A Psychic in Hogwarts
by The Forgetful Authoress
Summary: When a letter claiming Ness is a wizard arrives at his house, Ness has no choice but to attend the school of wizardry and witchcraft, Hogwarts. But for what purpose? It Ness really a wizard? Or is he attending for a different reason all together? Story requested by Emako the Wolf.
1. Chapter 1, Your a Wizard Ness!

"They have to be joking." Ness said, rereading the fancy letter for the 50th time, Paula, his friend looked up from flower picking and laughed, "I don't see what's so hard to believe."

"Well considering the fact that Ness isn't cracking a joke." Jeff said, looking up from his latest invention, "I'd say it's hard to believe."

"It is! The letter says that I'm a wizard!" Ness handed the letter to Paula and Jeff who briefly studied it, "That's impossible." Jeff said, "PSI powers aren't magic, their—,"

"If you compare PSI to science again." Paula warned, "I'm hitting you over the head with my frying pan."

Jeff gulped and adjusted his glasses, "Er. Right, PSI and magic are two different things."

Ness fiercely nodded in agreement, "Yea! And the headmaster, Dumbledore? He's putting me in the second year of school and in something called Gryffindor!"

Paula frowned and sat down, "Maybe he has great faith in your skills?"

"That's probably it," Jeff said, "After all, he says that he's heard about how we saved the world and your PSI skills."

"Then why didn't you guys get a letter?!" Ness asked.

Paula shrugged while Jeff sighed, "Well first off, I can't _use_ PSI like you guys can, Paula would have ignored it and Poo is too busy training to care."

Ness frowned but nodded in agreement looking toward where Poo was practicing his martial arts. A determined look on his face as he worked. With a sigh Ness lied down in the cool summer grass and looked up at the sun.

"Whatever." Ness said, "This is probably just a joke the police force sent me."

"Why would this be a joke?" Jeff questioned, picking up the school list and studying it, "The Standard Book of Spells Year 2? Magical Drafts and Potions, A History of Magic? This sounds too official to be a joke!"

"Then it's probably a very good joke." Ness countered, "Which isn't going to ruin the rest of my summer."

Jeff opened his mouth to argue when Paula stopped him with a shake of her head, "He's not going to change his mind Jeff so you might as well give it up."

Ness nodded in agreement and adjusted his baseball cap, "Now how about we focus on an important topic,"

"Steak?" Jeff sarcastically asked. Ness laughed and shook his head no, "No, not really. Baseball!" He whipped out his bat and tossed Paula a ball, "Come on! I bet I can beat your high score of 12 home runs Jeff!"

Jeff groaned and followed after him grumbling, "Dad was right, taking short-cuts to win baseball _is_ a bad idea." Paula giggled and looked at Poo, "You wanna play?"

Poo ignored her and continued his training.

XxXxXx

"I'm dreaming. Right?" Ness asked, as his mother hummed a cheerfully little town as they drove toward London, Tracy kicked the air and smiled at him, "This is awesome! My big brother's a PSI master _and_ a wizard!"

Ness ignored her and repeated his question only to get a cheerful reply of, "Nope! You're perfectly awake sweetheart!"

Ness blinked in disbelief and looked out the window, it had been raining when they left Onett but now that they were entering London the rain had stopped and just left the dark clouds behind in a hazy, depressing fog.

He was somewhat grateful when they finally pulled into a parking lot and got out, they had been driving for more than five hours at least! "Alright, according to the letter, Diagon Alley is hidden in an alleyway."

"Hidden in an alleyway?" Ness repeated.

His mother nodded and looked around, "That's what it says dear."

Tracy stood on her tippy toes and looked around as people bustled past them. Clearly knowing where they were going.

"Well, while you look around. I'm going to get my suitcase." Ness said. His mother nodded and tried to ask people for help while Ness unlocked the trunk and pulled out his brand new suitcase.

It felt odd, to have an actually carry on inside of just using his pockets to carry stuff. He returned to his Mother's side and looked around, "Soooo any luck?" Ness asked.

"No, and everyone's looking at me like a crazy person!" his Mother sighed and glanced down at the letter in her hand, "Maybe this _was_ just a joke."

"What! It can't be!" Tracy complained, "We probably just aren't looking in the right place!"

"Or, the magical warlocks hid it in outer space." Ness joked, Tracy was about to nod in agreement when she realized Ness was teasing her. "Very funny." Tracy grumbled.

"Ness, can you sense anything?" Ness focused for a bit and then shook his head, "Nope, sensing things is more of Paula's forty."

"Oh deeaaar," his mother groaned.

Ness was about to suggest checking the sights out before they called it quits when someone bumped into him, "Hey!" Ness spun around and blinked in surprise at the girl who had stumbled into him.

"Sorry!" the girl apologized once she regained her bearings, her voice was thick with a cocky accent and her hair was a bright red.

"That's okay. You just startled me." Ness said, the girl nodded and wrung her hands, she seemed… odd, Ness deicide from her tattered black robe to her scruffy boots, no one in Onett dressed like that. Then again, Ness shouldn't be too hard to judge since everyone he knew was weird.

Which is why he loved home. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where Diagon Alley is, would ya?" Ness asked.

The girl surprisingly smiled and nodded her head yes, "Of course! I was heading there with my family to pick up school supplies, follow me!"

Ness nodded and waved his mother and Tracy over before he followed the red head toward a wall, she tapped a brick and waited as the wall broke apart, forming a door way into a bustling alley full of similarly dressed people as the girl.

"Ginny!" Ness jumped as a tall skinny boy, somehow even skinner than Ness was sprinted toward them, "There you are! Mom was having a panic attack when she realized you weren't with us!" Ginny flushed slightly and gestured toward Ness, "Sorry! But I was helping someone."

"Someone named Ness." Ness added, earning a stern glare from his Mother and a muffled giggle from Tracy, the boy looked at him and jumped, probably noticing Ness's black eyes.

"Yea, I'm the black horse of the family." Ness joked, earning another stern glare from his Mother, "I see then…" the boy said, he turned to Ginny and said, "Come on, I wanna try and find Harry before it gets dark."

"Oh, right." Ginny turned to Ness and smiled saying, "It was nice meeting you Ness." Then she left with her brother,

"Wow!" Tracy said spinning around in a circle to take in the odd stores and wizard like people, "This place is huge!"

"Well, come on." His mother said, "We don't have all day. And I still want to find an inn…" Inn, right. Ness was going to stay at the inn (If they had one) until it was time for him to head to school, which was somewhere in London. Since it didn't make any sense to risk being late for the train, his Mother and Father had decided that it would be best for Ness to stay a couple days to soak up the sights and get used to the place.

"How come Ness gets to stay by himself and I don't?" Tracy asked, "After all, I had a part time job at Escargo Express!"

"Yes, but Ness is old enough to stay by himself." His Mother argued, walking down the brisk street while keeping an eye out for a bank called Gringots.

"I wonder what currency wizards use." Tracy mused, Ness shrugged and said, "Magic probably."

Tracy frowned and asked, "How could wizards turn magic into money?"

"Well, they can turn random objects into gold according to those old stories. So maybe that's how."

"That seems a bit cheap."

"Hey, they could be cheap."

Tracy thought about this and looked around at the Witches and Wizards trying to pawn their goods, "Ah-ha! Here we are!"

Ness looked up in whistled in amazement at the giant stone building. They walked inside and looked around,

"Are those… Goblins?" Tracy asked, pointing to a squat green creature that was using some golden scale to weigh something.

"Looks like it." Ness said, Tracy whimpered slightly and hid behind Ness as they walked up to the counter, "Um, excuse me we need enough money to afford the items on the list." His mother offered the supply list which had a list of prices. The Goblin looked up and glared at her muttering, "Muggles." Before it spoke up, "Righ' then, do you have enough pound notes on ya?"

Tracy frowned and looked at their Mother trying to figure out what the ugly little creature meant, "We don't have pound notes, but we do have dollar bills." She handed him five tens and wrung her hands, trying for a polite smile. "Err, will this be enough to—,"

The goblin grabbed the dollar bills, stepped down from its chair and disappeared down a mine cart system, when it returned it dropped a small sack loaded with odd colored nuts, there were 15 bronze, 10 sliver and 5 gold.

"Thank you." His Mother said, the goblin grunted and resuming weighing.

"Lovely custom service." Ness grumbled once they were back outside,

"I think he needs a hug." Tracy mused.

His mother sighed and checked her list, "Alright, first things first, you need a wand, robe and a cauldron before we hit the book store."

"And an inn." Ness reminded her.

"And ice cream," Tracy added earning blank stares from her mother and brother. She shrugged and folded her hands behind her back, "What? I saw an ice cream parlor when we entered."

Ness sighed and looked around, "There seems to be a robe store over there." His Mother nodded in agreement and they began their shopping trip, the easy part was surprisingly getting the robe, despite the fact that Ness insisted that it was a Bathrobe for night owls while Tracy argued that it was cloak.

After that, they bought the cauldron on the list, the books and finally headed to a wand store by the name of Ollivanders. Ness pushed open the door and sneezed, disturbing the thin layer of dust that seemed to engulf the store.

His Mother tsked in disgust as she and Tracy shuffled inside, careful not to touch anything in the tiny store, "Whoever owns this place needs to clean better."

"That would be me." They jumped as a tiny man shuffled around a display of pointed wands and gave them a small smile, "Excuse the mess miss, I get wrapped up in my work." His mother nodded and opened her mouth when the small man beat her to the punch, giving Ness a swift look, "Ah, a new wizard looking for a wand this way please…"

Ness nodded and followed him deeper inside the shop, frowning at all the sticks called 'wands' pointing out of small boxes. "Now let see…" the man murmured picking up a box and studying it, "Er. Excuse me Mr…"

"Ollivander." The man supplied he turned to Ness and handed him a short wand, "Here, try this, 10/2 birth wood with a coral core."

Ness gently picked it up and studied it, "Am I… supposed to wave it around?" Ness asked. Ollivander nodded and waited. Ness waved it around and winced as Ollivander quickly snatched it out his hand, "No, no, too robust." Ollivander he placed it back and picked up a longer wand, "Here, try this Dogwood 13/5 with a Unicorn tail hair."

Ness accepted it and waved it around, only for it to quickly be taken away again, "A tricky one aren't ya." Ollivander mused, a teasing smile on his face, he handed Ness a medium size wand, Ash 14/5 with a Dragon heartstring. Ness waved it around and frowned as it was once again taken away from him.

"Mr. Ollivander, I don't think I'm cut out to wield a wand." Ness said as Ollivander placed an oak wand, 17/5 with a Kelpie Mane. Ollivander frowned and adjusted his owl eye glasses, "Oh-ho? Why not boy?"

"Despite what everyone says, I don't use magic, I use PSI."

"PSI?"

"Basically, a psychic, I use my hand to perform any 'spells' and I wield an oak baseball bat."

"I see… by the way, what is your name?"

"Ness. Ness EarthBound." Ness answered, "The B in bound is capitalized by the way." Ollivander's glasses practically slipped of his face as a light appeared in his old eyes, "Ah-ha! Dumbledore mentioned that you would be arriving."

"Who? And he did?" Ness questioned, Ollivander nodded and disappeared into the back, returning with a simple Oak wand that was at least 10 exact inches, "Try this." Ollivander said, before he quickly added, "While attempting to perform an attack."

Ness hesitated since he didn't want to hurt the old man, or cause him to cry uncontrollable so he decided on Hypnosis a. He pointed the wand at Ollivander and said, "Hypnosis!" picturing the lowercase a in his mind. He blinked in surprise as the wand fired a small white ball which nearly knocked Ollivander off his feet.

"Is everything alright?!" Tracy asked, peering around the corner in surprise.

Ness looked up then back at Ollivander who was fast asleep, "Nah, nothing's wrong, I just discovered that wands + PSI = bomb." Ness quipped. He checked the price on the wand and hopefully left enough to pay for it before they went to the ice cream parlor.

"Hey look! It's that kid from before!" Tracy said, pointing toward Ginny's brother who was laughing with a couple friends, "I wonder if they're going to that Hogwart place." Ness mused.

"There's only one way to find out," his mother said.

"Well, why you do that, I'm getting ice cream!" Ness laughed as Tracy dragged their mother inside the quant parlor, "Joke or not, getting to know some new people would be fun." Ness decided. He walked over to their table and waited for a bit.

When they didn't notice them Ness spoke up, "Hi!" Ginny's brother looked up and practically toppled off his chair while a boy with messy black hair, green eyes and a thunderbolt scar and his friend, a girl with bushy brown hair looked up and studied him in surprise.

"Hello." The boy with black hair finally said, "Who are you?" Ness extended his hand and introduced himself, "I'm Ness EarthBound, from Onett, America."

"Onett?" the bushy hair girl questioned, "Where's that?" Ness thought for a bit before he shrugged his shoulders, "In America, I've never really payed that much attention to geographic locations in school before."

"Hold on, Ness EarthBound?" Ginny's brother repeated, "I think I heard that name before." Ness felt his heart flutter slightly wondering how this England boy would have heard about him before, did he save the world? Sure, with the help of some awesome friends but it was old news and had happened over the school year.

"Really? Where?" Ness asked, prodding the boy for more clues, he thought for a bit before he shook his head.

"Sorry, my memories a bit fuzzy about where I heard about you. I'm Ron Weasley by the way."

The boy with dark hair extended his hand saying "Harry Potter." Then he gestured to the girl who waved hello, "And this is our friend, Hermione Granger."

"Nice to meet you guys." Ness said, adjusted his hat and looked around, "Hey, you guys wouldn't know an inn close by here, right?" Harry nodded and pointed down the road, "Yea, it's called the Leaky Cauldron, I'm staying there."

"If you want, we could show you the way." Harry offered.

"That would be great, just let me tell my Mom and I'll be good." Ness said. He walked inside the ice cream parlor and whistled at the huge selection of flavors on the wall, Tracy was licking a plain vanilla cone. His mother was trying a multicolored ice cream, "Found an inn." Ness said.

"Really? Where is it?"

"Don't know, I found a couple people who knew where it was, one of them was staying there."

"So you made friends?"

"Not really, just acquaintances."

His Mother sighed but managed a smile, "Well, acquaintances is better than nothing have fun."

Tracy smiled and hugged her brother good bye, "Try not to blow anyone up when your practicing magic." Tracy teased.

Ness scowled remembering his first time using PSI, he had accidently directed the attack toward himself and looked like a charcoal idiot for the rest of the day.

"Alright, I'm ready." Ness said, dragging his suitcase behind him with a small smile, winching at how heavy his once light suitcase had become from all the school supplies.

"Need help with that?" Ron asked, Ness shook his head no and followed Harry, as they walked down the crowded streets they talked about magical things and sports, or rather, everyone but Ness did since it still seemed like a joke that he was actually a wizard.

"Hey Ness, what do you think?" Ness looked up and frowned, trying to figure out what Harry had asked him, "Think about what?" Ness asked.

"Well," Harry hesitated before he continued, "Before I arrived here at Diagon Alley I saw a black dog, which is supposedly an omen of death." Ness raised an eyebrow and thought for a bit, before he bumped into a time traveling alien he hadn't really thought much about omens and predicting the future.

But after seeing everything the alien had warned him about come true, Ness had become a bit warier of predictions and omens and took their warnings a bit more seriously.

"Where were you when you saw the dog?" Ness asked.

"I was at home. I saw it during the middle of the night but when I went to get my glasses to be sure it was gone." Harry explained, Ness frowned and said, "It probably was an omen, just try not to think about it and focus on current events. If it was a death omen, then thinking about it and worrying about isn't going to help you when it comes. It's better to be caught off guard with a slight idea with how dangerous the situation could be than ignoring it completely."

"You believe in omens?" Hermione questioned, disbelief evident in her voice.

Ness shrugged and replied, "Yes and no, I'll take whatever warning with some seriousness but if it was just a random fluke which doesn't add onto anything later, then I'll ignore it."

"See! Harry has the right mind to be worried about it!" Ron said, sounding a bit _too_ happy about this, Harry mutely nodded and looked a pale shade of green as they stepped inside the Leaky Cauldron, Ness looked around and walked up to the desk. Or the bar counter since the first floor looked like one of those western bars with a bunch of happy go lucky patrons.

"Hello, I'd like a room for the night." Ness said to the bartender.

The bartender looked up and glanced at Ness's suitcase, "Ah, a student for Hogwarts?"

"Err.. Yea."

"I see, so you'll just be staying for the night." The bartender reached under the counter and placed a rusted key in front of Ness. "That'll be 5 galleons. If you need anything just ask for Tom; that's me."

Ness nodded and hopefully placed 5 galleons onto the counter before he headed upstairs to room 203.

He was surprised to see that the room was small, it had a bed shoved to one side of the room with a wobbly bedside table beside it, and a small door was off to the side, probably leading to the bathroom.

"Wow, 5-star accommodation here." Ness grumbled, although he wasn't really sure what to except from an old looking bar. He headed back downstairs in hopes of finding a map to Kings Cross. Instead he found Harry and his friends talking to a man with balding red hair who was reading a newspaper.

Ness approached them but was quickly distracted by a man with long black hair actively scowling as his eyes darted around the picture. Ness froze and tried to figure out how the picture was moving when Giygais was gone when Hermione noticed him, "You found your room okay?" she asked.

"Yea." Ness said, "but what's up with the moving picture?" Hermione glanced at the newspaper then back at Ness, "It's nothing, Wizards use magic cameras which allows the people inside the photo to move around."

"So it's supposed to do that?" Ness questioned, Hermione nodded and glanced at her friends who were looking to leave. Hermione nodded again and turned to leave.

"Weird." Ness muttered, eyeing the moving picture with slight paranoia, after fighting inanimate objects Ness found objects that seemly moved on their own a bit worrying. He sighed and walked up to the man, who was probably Ron's father, "Excuse me sir," he looked up and closed the paper, allowing Ness to read the caption.

 **Sirius Black Escapes Azkaban.**

Ness frowned slightly but continued his question, "You wouldn't happen to know where Kings Cross is, would you? I'm supposed to catch a train to a school called Hogwarts."

"Kings Cross? Well it's just up north from here." The man answered, he was about to say more when the door opened and Harry, Ron and Hermione returned with an ugly looking orange cat and a mob of red haired people.

"Back so soon?" the man asked, probably Mr. Weasley now that Ness thought about it, a plump woman carrying a bunch of shopping bags.

"Yea, the pet shop worker said that Scabbers will probably get better with this rat tonic." Ron grumbled, not sounding pleased with the news, "Honestly Ron, it's better than nothing." A tall red haired boy with owl like glasses said, he seemed to be the eldest child of the group. Ginny noticed him and waved hello.

"Hello Molly." Mr. Weasley greeted, "Did you find everything okay?" Mrs. Weasley glared at a pair of twins who feigned innocent and muttered, "More or less." Before she and the others headed up to their rooms to drop off the shopping bags.

"So if I just walk north from here I'll hit the Kings Cross Station?" Ness asked, wanting to make sure that he was heading the right direction. "Walk? You plan on walking from here?" Mr. Weasley questioned, Ness nodded.

"Yea, I live out in the country, so if I have to walk, I'll walk."

Mr. Weasley blinked before he shook his head, however before he could confirm Ness's question Mrs. Weasley arrived with Ginny, "Arthur, where's Tom? I want to ask him a question about tonight's dining situation."

"Tom's in the back dear." Mr. Weasley replied before he turned back to Ness. Mrs. Weasley noticed him and jumped, "Good gracious!" Mrs. Weasley yelped, Ness sighed and pointed to his eyes, "Don't worry, I'm normal." Ness joked.

"He startled me a bit as well." Ginny said, Ness extended his hand to Mrs. Weasley and introduced himself, "I'm Ness EarthBound, and as you can guess, I'm not from around here."

"Nice to meet you." Mrs. Weasley said, recomposing herself and forcing a small smile, "I'm Molly Weasley, and this is Ginny, my daughter."

"We've already met before." Ginny reminded her, "Remember? I told you about him at the bookstore." Mrs. Weasley nodded and tried for small talk, "So you're heading to Hogwarts as well?"

"Apparently." Ness said, "I'm a second year student."

"Really?" Ginny frowned slightly and said, "I don't remember you being in school last year, what house are you in?"

"House?" Ness questioned, he knew boarding schools were fancy-pancy since Jeff talked about it whenever he came over Ness's house, but he never mentioned different houses in the school, just that his school was like an everyday school only much more prestigious since it focused solely on science.

"I'm not in a house, I'm a new student." This earning surprised glances from the Weasley family, or a quarter of it since the other boys were still upstairs.

"Are you from a gifted family then?" Mr. Weasley asked, Ness shook his head no he was tempted to say that he wasn't even a wizard but had a sinking feeling that he was. Hopefully he would be proven wrong in the future.

"Odd. I've never heard of a student skipping a year." Mrs. Weasley mused, "How old are you?"

"I'm 12, turning 13 in December." Ness replied, "I received the letter last month." Mrs. And Mr. Weasley shared a baffled look while Ginny quickly changed the subject, "So what happened to your mother and sister?"

"They headed back home, we drove ten hours here and Mom figured it would be easier for me to stay the night then to drive back up here." Ness adjusted his hat and asked, "Does this Hogwarts place accept baseball bats?"

"Baseball bats?" Ginny questioned, "What are those?" Ness practically fell over in shock, he knew that London was in a different continent, heck! Different world from America but not knowing Baseball?! It was practically a crime!

"It's a sport back home." Ness bluntly said, not wanting to explain to much since that might make it more confusing for Ginny. Ginny nodded and asked, "Is it like Qudditch?"

Now it was Ness's turn to give Ginny a confushed look, "Does it have 9 players, a bat, four bases and a homerun zone?" Ness asked.

"Err… No, you fly around on broomsticks and-," Ginny stopped herself and sheepishly said, "Perhaps it's better if you see than for me to explain it."

"Yea, that sounds like a good idea." Ness said.

"Ness, would you like to join us for dinner?" Mr. Weasley asked, Ness frowned but slowly nodded his head, "Sure, but why the invitation?"

"No reason." Ness frowned but didn't push it, after all, as long as he had steak then he would be fairly happy.

XxXxXx

Dinner was somewhat amazing. They didn't have steak (London had problems Ness decided) but they did have a good chocolate pudding and conversation went fairly well, or Ness figured that since he kept to himself and focused on observing how the Weasley family, Harry and Hermione interacted.

He thought it was a good plan since he was wearing 'loud' clothing compared to the subtle colors everyone else seemed to wear, more proof that London was extremely weird.

It wasn't until Fred, one of the twins asked, "How're we getting to King's Cross tomorrow, Dad?"

"The Ministry's providing a couple of cars." Mr. Weasley answered, for some reason, this answer caused everyone to look up from their pudding, except Ness who was still eating his, he merely glanced up before resuming his desert.

"Why?" Percy asked, and judging by the curious tone in his voice, getting a car ride wasn't an everyday thing. "It's because of you Percy." George said, sounding so serious that Ness looked up, then looked down to stifle his laughter as Fred finished, "There going to have little flags that say HB on them, for Humongous Bighead."

Percy flushed an angry red as everyone suddenly became extremely interested in their pudding once Mr. Weasley had recollected himself from a small laughing fit he explained why he got the Ministry cars, "Well, as we haven't got one anymore, and as I work there, I'm doing them a favor."

Ness frowned as he noticed Mr. Weasley's ears flush a faint red but didn't question it since Mrs. Weasley briskly said, "A good thing too, do you realize how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on Muggle Underground… You're all packed aren't you?"

"Ron hasn't packed all his new things yet," Percy said in a haughty voice, "He's dumped them on my bed." Mrs. Weasley glared down the table at Ron and warned, "You'd better be packed before morning, we won't have time for last minute preparations."

Ron nodded then scowled at Percy who ignored him and resumed eating his pudding, Ness thought about packing his own stuff until he remembered that he had in between finding the correct stores. Once dinner was over Ness headed up to his room, only to be stopped by Mr. Weasley, "Err, Ness if you want, you could come with us in the morning. To King's Cross Station."

Ness stopped and felt a small knot of guilt appear in his stomach. He had already asked them for directions and found himself being invited to Dinner, and he didn't want to impose on them any further, "No, that's alright you've already done so much for me, despite being a stranger." Ness said managing a smile, "I'm pretty sure I could find it on my own."

"No, it's fine. Honest." Mr. Weasley returned his smile although Ness could spot his ears turning a light red again.

"If you say so…" Ness finally said, before he retreated to his room. He flopped on the bed and reached up to adjust his baseball hat, only to find that it was gone. "I must have left it in the dining room." Ness realized, stifling a groan at the thought of leaving his beloved baseball hat.

He got up and headed downstairs, ignoring the loud argument coming from the room that Percy and Ron shared and carefully sneaking down the rickety stairs, "Hello Red Cap." Ness said, once he spotted his bright red and blue cap, belonging to the Red Cap baseball team. He placed it back on his head. He was about to return to his room when he heard a hushed, yet angry argument.

Ness was about to leave when he heard Harry's name, he stopped and ducked under the table, hoping the dim lights didn't catch his yellow and blue striped shirt.

"It doesn't make sense not to tell him." Mr. Weasley said, sounding a bit heated, "Harry's got a right to know, I've tried to tell Fudge that but he insists on treating Harry like a child. He's thirteen years old and—"

"Arthur the truth would terrify him!" Mrs. Weasley argued, cutting her husband off mid-sentence, "He would be happy _not_ knowing for Pete's sakes!"

 _"I wouldn't."_ Ness thought, he listened some more before he grew bored and decided that it wasn't his place to ease drop and turned to leave he was halfway to the stairs after crawling under dusty tables when he heard Mrs. Weasley say, "Besides, if anything goes wrong that Dumbledore or Ness will step in help!"

Mr. Weasley made a noise between a scoff and a rough cough, Ness perked up, wondering if these odd people knew something he didn't, was he actually not a wizard? Was he just getting sent to Hogwarts to be a bodyguard or something? Mr. Weasley had mention something about Siruis Black gunning for Harry before he escaped his prison. Was he out for revenge for this You-Know-Who person?

"Molly, we don't even know if he _is_ the real deal." Mr. Weasley said, lowering his voice slightly, "After all, he first showed up in the Daily Prophet as a goofy side story." Ness frowned, insulted that he and his friends' heroic adventure were being treated like a comic strip then at the fact that someone had been watching them.

He left after that and snuck back to his room for some much needed rest. He didn't even notice Harry who was listening in as well, or the fact that he had forgot to unpack his pajamas. He just flopped on the lumpy mattress and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2, The First Day

The next day Ness discovered something, that he could still be surprised and somewhat caught off guard, normally this would be an odd thing to discover since every human being was caught off guard or surprised at some point, but Ness had fought zombies, living piles of barf, signs, Happy-Happy cultist, statues, marshmallows and even magic snails.

So the shock of something unexplained happening had dulled a lot for him, which made the discovery of a secret walk through wall that lead to a steam red train engine with a bunch of the kids carrying trunks, owls and even straw brooms. All Ness did was climb on board the train, focusing on the sinking feeling that he was indeed a wizard despite having PSI powers.

"Fancy." Ness mumbled as he found an empty train car and placed his suitcase on the luggage rack, "I guess everything fancy when you're a wizard though." He realized, "I wonder how they treat heroes…"

Probably not well considering how Mrs. Weasly had referred to him during that argument last night, as a goofy comic strip. Wait, how did they even _know_ about his crazy adventure? He lived in America! And as far as he knew, no one was from Europe, or any different country.

Ness frowned and looked outside the stationary window, watching the good-byes and eager students climb onto the train. Was this what Jeff did every time school started? Only with a jet-pack just to seem cool? Although that was probably normal for his school since it sounded like a private school for geniuses.

Ness sighed and leaned back into the puffy chair, wondering how badly he was going to screw up since he didn't know any magic. "Eh, I'll probably figure something out." Ness decided pushing the problem to the back of his mind and focusing on something more important. Like what to do with the two people who entered his train car.

Or, one person since he knew Ginny who was standing beside a nervous looking boy carrying a toad. He was tempted to ask if the toad knew how to record people's adventures when Ginny said, "Hello again!"

"Hello again for the third time." Ness teased, "Who's your friend?" the boy looked up and said, "Neville Longbottom, 3rd year. And this is my frog, Trevor." Trevor slowly blinked at Ness before resuming staring into space, "Who are you?"

"Ness Earthbound, second year." Ness said, putting air quotation marks around second year, "Apparently I've been a wizard all my life and just learned about it."

"So you were magically delayed?" Nevile asked a hopeful smile on his slightly pudgy face, "Uh… No?" Ness said as Ginny sat down on the other couch and gestured for Nevile to do the same, "What Nevile means is that you didn't discover your magic abilities until last year."

When Ness still didn't get it Neville tried again, "My family though I was a squib until my uncle dropped me down a hill. I bounced the entire way down without a scratch!"

Ness felt his stomach twist at the mental image of Neville bouncing down a hill and tried to change the topic, "What's a squib?"

"A person whose born into a magically family with no magic." Ginny explained, "It's quite rare since their muggles from a Qizarding blood line."

Muggles? Bloodlines? Since when did being a wizard seem so complicated? Ness figured that being magically was a big deal. But to have different species names for a single object? It reminded him of all of Giygas's soldiers!

"Nice to know that Wizards can keep it simple." Ness grumbled, "So, what house are you in?" Neville asked trying to keep the conversation afloat.

Ginny nervously bit her lip as Ness bluntly said, "Gryffindor apparently whatever that is."

Neville's eyes widen for a second as the train lurched to life and pulled out of the station, "Yea, I know it's weird." Ness said once he had recovered from nearly getting thrown out of his seat. Perhaps leaning forward wasn't a good idea…

"But last month I got a letter claiming that I was a wizard."

"You mean… you aren't?" Neville asked while Ginny frowned and said, "But, you _are_ a wizard. Right? I mean, you got into Diagon Alley and no one threw a fit about you being their if you're a muggle."

Ness frowned and adjusted his cap, "But I'm not, I mean, magic is magic right? I was just born with PSI abilities."

"PSI?" Neville questioned then his eyes widen again, "Now I know where I've heard your name before! You were in the side stories of the Daily Prophet!"

Ness rolled his eyes and said, "Yup, I'm the side show known as Ness. Nice to meet you." Neville cringed slightly and hurried to fix his mistake, "Err, sorry. Gran told me not to think too much of it since it seemed to… unbelievable."

"Eh, Don't worry about it." Ness said, "I never believed in wizards. And I still sort of don't, so we're even." He glanced out the window and frowned at the darkening scenery.

"So, you, err.. Poo, Paula and Jeff were all fighting living objects and brainwashed people to defeat the alien?" Ginny asked.

"Yup." Ness said, he leaned back in surprise at the awestruck gazes he was getting from Ginny and Neville, "Wow! So that little village of Mr. Saturns, it exists?"

"Yup, and their super weird." Ness said, remembering the odd conversations he had with the tiny little people. They spent most of the train ride chatting about what to expect from Hogwarts and about Ness's adventure.

It was going great until a witch pushing around an odd cart of food arrived, it wasn't the cart itself that was odd. It was the food on the cart, a packet of mutli colored beans, a pumpkin like cake that reminded Ness of a sponge cake and chocolate frogs which sent a shiver down his spine as he remembered the many helpful frogs he had meet on his adventure.

Ginny bought a pumpkin cake while Neville bought a packet of the multi colored beans. Ness merely stuck to his mini steak sandwich. While they ate Ness payed close attention to the weather feeling a nagging feeling that he was about to get into a fight with some otherworldly being.

And the gloomy storm clouds that were attempting to rain weren't helping Ness ease that feeling. "Wait, you perform PSI with your mind, right?" Ginny questioned once their lunches had been finished, Ness nodded, "Yea. I can perform PSI silently or aloud. Lately it's been aloud since I discovered that it's a good idea to call out what your about to do in case someone's trying to do the same thing."

"But, you had to buy a wand. Right?"

Ness nodded again and pulled out his plain oak wand, "I'm _reeeaaaalllly_ hoping that I don't have to use it to much." Ness admitted, "Since I practically sent the wand store owner into a coma when I tried to use a basic PSI attack."

Neville's eyes widen while Ginny grimaced, "…I'm going to have to use this dumb thing for pretty much everything." Ness deadpanned, they nodded.

"Welp, a lot of people are going to hurt if they decided to let me stay." Ness joked.

"Honestly, compared to last year, that would be a good thing." Ginny muttered, Neville nodded in agreement, "Honestly… I hope we don't have any more secret chambers."

"Secret Chambers?" Ness asked perking up slightly, "Did you guys find treasure?" Ginny opened her mouth to answer when the train slowed to a stop, "Uh… Are we there?" Ness asked, Ginny frowned and looked out the window, "No… We still have another hour to go." Neville said.

"Wait, I think I see some people outside." Ginny said frowning slightly, "Maybe it's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher?" Neville offered.

Ginny shook her head no, "I think he got on-board with us…" she stood up and unpacked her school robe, "Come on, let's try and find Ron, he might know something." Neville nodded in agreement and grabbed his school robe, Ness reluctantly did the same and shivered at the coarse yet surprisingly comfortable fabric.

They stepped outside and walked past the open car doors as other students poked their heads out, trying to figure out what was going on. "So uh… Does anyone know where Ron's car is or—," Ness's question was abruptly cut off as the lights turned off, plunging the entire train into darkness.

"Bother." Neville muttered as they bumped into Ginny. Ness blinked a couple times before he felt his eyes adjust to the darkness, "Come on, I can see again." Ness said grabbing Ginny and Neville's hands and leading them toward the only closed door in the hallway, "Is that one of your PSI powers?" Ginny asked.

"Nah, I'm just used to dark places, so my eyes adjust a bit faster than most." Ness replied he paused and pushed open the closed door, "Yello? Anyone there?" Ginny and Neville stepped inside and quickly tripped over someone who yelped in pain and hissed, "That's my foot!" earning two embarrassed "Sorry!" from Ginny and Neville. Ness carefully stepped inside and closed the door behind him as his new friends stumbled over Harry, Ron and Hermione in the process of finding somewhere to sit.

Ness tried to take a step forward and quickly stepped on someone's foot, "Sorry!" Ness hissed as he changed direction and tripped over his feet, landing on furry object which quickly turned into an angry cat, Ness smothered a yell of pain as he rolled away and said, "Who the heck brings a cat to a private school!?"

"Well, I couldn't just leave the poor thing at home." Hermione, Ness guessed said sounding a bit cross about answering the question, "You mean that furry monster?" Ron asked, Ness stifled a laugh as Hermione swiftly jabbed Ron with her elbow.

"Err, right, d'you know what's going on?" Neville asked.

"No, Ron thinks the train broke down." Harry said, Ness heard squeaking and saw Ron's outline as he approached the window, "Wait, I think people are getting on."

"Are the same people from before? Since Ginny saw some guys when the train first stopped." Ness asked, he tried to approach the window to see for himself but only succeeded in bumping into Ginny and back onto the cat, "Alright seriously?! Who leaves an angry cat on the floor?!" Ness demanded.

"Quiet." A hoarse voice said, causing everyone to jump as the voice was quickly followed by a soft crackling noise before a small light appeared, illuminating a man with a tired gray face and alert eyes.

"Stay where you are." The man ordered as he carefully made his way to the door, but before the man could open the door, it slid open on its own.

Ness felt an old trickle of danger as the faint light revealed a figure wearing a dark cloak with a long hood, hiding its face. It drew a long withering slow breath, as if it was trying to suck the last of a milkshake with a bad straw. Its presence seemed to send the room to fridge temperature as the cold seemed to smoother his lungs.

And judging by the startled gasps behind him, everyone else had felt that thing cold. It reminded him of Giygas only much, much, more depressing.

Was this a monster? Like an actual Monster they had to defeat or did—a soft thud disrupted Ness's train of thought as Harry slipped out of his seat and landed onto the carpeted floor, his eyes were pure white and he seemed to be shivering intently.

"Harry?" Ness said, although the cold made it hard to speak, was this monster doing this? Probably since they all started feeling cold the moment it stepped inside the door-frame.

So the best way to get rid of this cold freak would be with fire, a power he barely knew since Paula could control fire. Sure, she had been showing him how to use the easiest level of fire attacks but Ness couldn't really get it. Paula had said to think of a warmth appearing in his heart and build up from that until it felt ready to explode.

 _"Well, here goes nothing."_ Ness thought as he pictured a small flame in his mind, slowly growing bigger and warmer. He barely heard the man say something to the monster, he just focused on the mental image of fire slowly leaving his mind and toward the monster setting it aflame and disrupting whatever spell it had cast on Harry.

 _"Please work."_ Ness begged as he finally released the flame and looked up at the monster, in a spilt second, two things happened. The first thing was that the monster stumbled back with a raspy yelp of pain as flames flew past it, the second thing was the man raised his wand and muttered something, sending a wisp of white smoke toward it.

Which sent the monster fleeing, taking its cold presence with him. The man lowered his wand and slowly looked around, "Is everyone okay?"

"I'm good, wide awake actually." Ness feebly joked feeling the cold evaporate from his lungs, allowing him to breath properly, "But, is Harry okay?" Hermione asked, the man looked at Harry before he nodded, "He'll be fine once he wakes up— here, try this." He opened his truck and pulled out chocolate frogs giving them a piece.

"It will warm you up." The man explained when Ness and Ginny gave him questioning looks. Ness put the frog in his pocket and smiled, "Nah, I'm good."

"Are you sure?" the man asked surprised by Ness's casual answer. "Totally, I felt better once that creepo monster left."

"What was that?" Neville asked once he had taken a bite out of his frog, "A Demontor." The man started, "A terrible monster that guards the Prison of Azkaban."

"Azakaban…." Ness repeated, the name sounding vaguely familiar. But he couldn't place where he heard it before. He didn't have long to question it as the train lurched back to life.

"Professor," Hermione started, "Why did you set the Demontor on fire?" So this tired looking man was a teacher? Ness had figured he was just a chaperon.

"I'm not too sure myself Hermione." The Professor admitted although Ness caught a brief glance in his direction, "Perhaps we were just lucky." Ginny shakily nodded in agreement and hugged her knees. Ness frowned and placed a comforter arm on her shoulder, "Hey, it's okay, that demented monster isn't going to come back." He glared at the cat and added, "The only we have to worry about, it monstro the cat over the there."

"Ah-ha! I'm not the only one who thinks that cat is evil!" Ron exclaimed earning a dirty look from Hermione. "Honestly! Crookshanks is an angle!" Hermione argued as the Professor summoned a lantern and lit it, brightening up the car.

"Oh right, an adorable little blood thirsty angle." Ness joked earning a weak chuckle from Ginny and a muffled hoot of laughter from Ron. Hermione threw her hands up and went to pet her demon cat.

The last hour of the train went along smoothly, Ness left the car for a couple minutes to check his luggage, wanting to ensure that he didn't get robbed on the way to this fancy pancy school place (Although, he wasn't sure if he would even like it if they had more freakshows running around.) and came back to find a startled Harry.

He had missed most of the exchange but judging by Harry's light pink cheeks he was thoroughly embarrassed about fainting, and then falling to the ground. Ness decided to be polite and not question why Harry had fainted in the first place.

Exactly ten minutes later Ness found himself outside on a train platform with his luggage and getting shunted toward a long line of horse drawn carriages, "Firs' years this way!" a voice yelled. Ness looked toward the source and blinked in surprise at the small giant waving over first years.

"Huh…" Ness said as he was dragged away from the small giant, "I think I've been caught off guard. Cool…"

"Ness! Over here!" Ginny yelled, "We have a carriage ready!" Ness whistled and walked toward the impressive yet old wooden carriage, "Wow, you wizards really love old fashion tech." Ness noted as he climbed inside and got a whiff of old wood and hay.

"Careful," a dreamy voice with an aura of being in a permanent dream warned, "Their might be woodlie burrowers in your seat." Ness jumped up and looked at girl with practically sliver blond hair and grey eyes, "What are those?" Ness asked.

"Little creatures that eat the wood underneath the carriages." The girl explained.

"Oh, so like tiny termites?"

"I suppose, only there much more dangerous."

Ginny smiled and introduced the girl sitting next to Neville, "This is Luna Lovegood she's in Ravenclaw, her father runs the Quibbiler." Ness nodded hello and opened his mouth to introduce himself but Luna cut him off, "You're Ness Earthbound, one of the four heroes who saved Onett from Giygas, the PSI alien."

"I'm guessing you read about me?" Ness asked, Luna eagerly nodded, "Of course! Your adventure was amazing! Especially when you and Paula were fighting off the Happy cultist."

"Cultist?" Neville questioned, "You fought cultist?" Ness nodded remembering the eerily blue happy people who were under the control of a Mani-Mani statue. "He also fought zombies, living piles of barf and sign posts." Luna interjected.

Neville whistle in amazement while Ginny frowned, as if remembering something, "Ness, did you do anything to that Demontor on the train?" Ginny asked.

"Yea, I wasn't going to let it hurt Harry or anyone else, so I tried to use Fire." Ness explained, Luna oohed in amazement and asked, "I thought only Paula could use Fire?"

"She can, but we've been trying to see if we can learn other PSI attacks, so she showed me fire, and I showed her how to use Flash."

"What does Flash do?" Neville asked.

"It's a huge flash attack that make a monster cry uncontrollable or feel strange." Ness explained, he adjusted his hat and looked around, the carriages were in a single line, marching up a long dirt road at a moderate pace.

"So what I am to except from Hogwarts? Besides wizards and random brooms."

"Well, for second year students we have Defense against the Dark Arts, Potions with Professor Snape, who hates Gryffindors', Transfiguration, History of Magic, Herobology, Astronomy, Charms and Flying." Ginny said rattling off the classes with ease.

Ness sighed in disbelief at all the things he would have to remember. Well, at least Astroamany was one of Ness's core interests. He had started star gazing after he had stopped Giygas and to pay respect to the time traveling bug creature that had came to warn him of the upcoming disasters.

"It's no wonder why you were put in Gryffindor." Ginny said, "I don't think anyone else could handle an adventure like that."

"Speaking of houses, what's the difference between them?" Ness asked.

"Well, Gryffindor's main traits is that everyone is brave and heroic like you, Ravenclaw are smart and creative, Hufflepuff are caring and basically want to be friends with everyone, and Slytherin are cunning purebloods." Neville explained, "No one likes Slytherin, their house has a reputation of having Dark Wizards."

"Dark wizards? Like bad guys? Or people just interested in the dark arts?" Ness questioned, Ginny thought for a moment before she whispered, "Bad guys basically, You-Know-who was from there, and he attempted to do a mass genocide on Muggleborns and muggles."

Ness cringed as Luna casually reassured him with, "But don't worry, he died when he tried to kill Harry Potter. So he's no longer a threat."

"Well that's nice to know." Ness said, "But why is his name You Know Who? Sounds pretty dumb if you ask me."

Ginny and Neville flinched as Luna uneasily clarified, "Well, that's because his real name is Voldemort. Everyone just calls him you know who."

Ness frowned since being afraid of a dead dude's name seemed a bit dumb, "But Voldemort's dead, and has been dead for ages right? So why are you afraid of his dumb name?"

"I dunno." Ginny admitted, "It just feels, odd. I mean, I was born after V-voldemort died but."

"But it still scary knowing that a person like him existed." Ness deadpanned. Luna nodded in agreement saying, "He was a scary person, but now we should really be worried about the Three horned Bervorius." Before anyone could ask what the heck a Three Horned Bervorius was the carriage stopped.

Singling that they had reached the school. Ness climbed out and felt a wave of awe pass over him as he looked up at a giant medieval castle with a stone bridge leading toward a giant wooden door.

"This is Hogwarts?" Ness asked, wondering if he had been magically teleported back to the Cave of Past and transported to the age of knights and wizards. Luna gave a dreamy laugh as Ginny nudged him forward, "I thought it would be a school building not a giant castle!" Ness exclaimed as he clumsily got his legs to work.

"A giant castle with trick stairs, living paintings, ghosts, living suits of armor and a living hat." Neville added.

"Trick stairs? Do you have to answer a riddle to climb up them?"

Ginny shook her head no and tried to explain, "Their fake steps that will get your leg stuck if you aren't careful."

"Isn't that dangerous?!"

"No, the most dangerous thing about this place is the Whomping Willow." Luna explained, "We have a giant squid in the lake but he's mostly harmless."

"Mostly?" Ness repeated, Luna and Ginny nodded and entered the castle which had a marble floor, four huge hourglasses with a gold animal decorating one of the four hourglasses and random suits of armor.

For a school, this place felt weirder than Onett, which Ness found nearly impossible to happen given how weird it was on a daily basis. Although now that he thought about it, Onett was more quirky than weird…

"Excuse me." Ness looked up and jumped at the sight of a man with ginger brown hair pulled into a ponytail wearing a midnight blue robe with sliver stars. He reminded Ness of those cartoon wizards and of Merlin who was depicted wearing a similar outfit.

"You're Ness Earthbound, right?" the man asked. Ness nodded and spotted Ginny and Luna heading toward another grand wooden door with other students in red, purple, yellow and green robes.

"That's my name, don't wear it out." Ness joked, "So uh, could I help you?"

"Err… Yes, I'm supposed to talk to you about something…" the man said, looking really uncomfortable with what he had to say, "Cool… So who are you?" Ness asked a teasing smile slowly forming, "The lord of stars?"

The man chuckled and said, "I suppose so, I'm Professor Kale, I teach Astronomy on the highest tower." He made a follow me gesture and walked up a flight of stairs, "So, are we heading to said tower?" Ness asked as they entered a spiral staircase, "No, we are heading to my office."

"Which is where?"

"On the Astronomy tow—," Professor Kale paused and corrected himself, "We are going to said tower since that is where my office is."

"Wow, nice to you have a place so close to the rest of the castle." Ness joked, Proffessor Kale paused then resumed walking, "That was sarcasm, right?"

"Yup. Sarcasm."

"…One of these days I shall learn that method."

"Okaaay then."

"Here we are!" Professor Kale announced opening a faded wood door that revealed a roof with four colored mats and pillows. It was a pretty big section of roof since the four mats had easily taken up a corner of the roof while still leaving space for telescopes, books and a small section to be roped off.

"Wow…" Ness breathed looking up at the starry sky in awe as he easily saw the Big Dipper and a consulate of a giant bear, "Beautiful… right?" Professor Kale asked.

"Amazing… It feels like I can touch the moon from here." Ness replied half following Professor Kale toward a bean bag and a small wooden table with the solar system carved into it.

"So pretty starry night aside, why did I get called up here?" Ness asked.

"Dumbledore—the headmaster—wanted me to enlighten you on how Hogwarts works/ catch you up to speed since you're our first transfer student to skip a year in about oh… a couple years." Professor Kale explained, "Also to give you this."

Ness carefully took the creamy envelop and opened it, reading the letter inside,

 **"To Ness Earthbound, as we have mention before, you are a second year student and are in the Gryffindor house due to your heroic actions and courages deeds. As to why you are now a wizard, we believe it is because of your late magic abilities which you have used in your adventure. Young wizards like you require proper training and—,"**

Ness stopped reading at point, feeling annoyed at how formal and unhelpful it was. Professor Kale seemed to share the same feeling since he said, "I know, unhelpful as usual. It's a letter from the school board district attempting to give you a proper welcome at Britain's best wizarding school."

"Well their doing a terrible job at it." Ness grumbled sitting down in a comet decorated bean-bag chair and accepting a cup of milk tea, "I just wanna know _why_ I'm here and not a first year. I know nothing about this place or magic!"

Professor Kale raised an eyebrow in surprise but didn't question it, instead he changed the topic, "So any other questions?"

"Well, where were all the students heading too?" Ness asked.

"The Start of Term feast." Professor Kale explained, "It's basically a way to introduce the new teachers, students that are sorted by the Sorting Hat and important announcements for the school year."

"Important announcements?"

"Yes, like the fact that we have Demontors guarding the school in hopes of catching Sirus Black. Be warned, they won't hesitate to try and attack you if they sense that you mean harm."

"Wow, this is the best school ever." Ness said earning a surprised gasp from Professor Kale, "Sarcarm."

"Oh. Right." Professor Kale cleared his throat and looked up into the stars. "The Moon's awfully close the Mars again…" Professor Kale noticed in a dreamy voice.

"Doesn't that mean disaster in some cases?" Ness asked, Professor Kale nodded and sighed, "Looks like we're going to have an eventful year again."

"Again? I'm guessing that eventful isn't normal?"

"Well, it is eventful in some cases, but what I meant is eventfully dangerous, like last year where students were turned into stone by some giant snake."

"That doesn't sound fun."

"It was awful especially since it was going after Muggle Born, I happily hid up here and read the stars for warnings of danger."

"And do they tell you anything?"

"Depends. Sometimes they warn of accidents, other times they give a happy comment and other times there just silent."

"Must be nice up here, with only the stars and mother nature around you."

"It is… Is is…"

They stopped talking and admired the stars which seemed to glow brighter after a while. Of course, their quiet peace was interrupted by a witch with graying hair, "Sol, is Ness Earthbound still with you?" the witch asked, Professor Kale didn't seem to hear her so Ness waved hello.

"Sol, the feast has ended." The witch said loudly jolting Professor Kale back to earth, "Ended— what?!" Professor Kale spluttered, "Ah I uh—we were—,"

"Viewing the stars and losing track of time." The witch deadpanned seeming very annoyed with Professor Kale, "Yes! Exactly! We even spotted Mars in front of the—,"

"Sol, my student."

Professor Kale trailed off and cleared his throat, "Err, right. Ness, this is Professor McGonagall. She's the head of Gryffindor and she teaches Transfiguration."

"Nice to meet you." Ness said. Professor McGonagall nodded in agreement and turned to leave, "See ya later Professor Kale!" Ness yelled as he followed her down the tower, "Right! We have class this Wednesday at—wait, was that a shooting star…?"

Ness stifled a laugh as Professor Kale cut himself off to look for the shooting star, for a teacher, he sure was relaxed about his subject. And passionate.

"So… Anything important to know about Gryffindor?" Ness asked once they reentered the warm stone hallway, "The only thing I can think of is the password," Professor McGonagall said, "Which at the moment is, Fortuna Major."

"Why do we need passwords?" Ness asked as he skipped a couple stairs to catch up, "I mean, it's not like anyone's going to perform any nasty pranks."

"You'd be surprise, after all. All the houses have some secret method of entering so only students of that house can enter."

Ness had nothing to say to that, so he kept his mouth shut as they approached a painting of a sleeping fat lady, the painting seemed out of place since it was the only thing in the wing that was decoration.

"Fortuna Major." Professor McGonagall said, the Fat Lady strried slightly and the painting swung open, revealing a square entrance big enough to allow three people to step inside without any trouble.

"This is your common room." Professor McGonagall said, "Good night, I except you to be up bright and early for class tomorrow."

"Right, good night." Ness said stepping inside and walking into a red and gold decorated room with comfy armchairs next to a fire place.

There were two stairways, probably the rooms for his housemates to sleep in. Housemates… It seemed like such an odd term. And extremely fancy.

Still, he climbed the stairs that had a dark red curtain draped to the side hoping that it was the guys side, inside the small stairway was seven other pathways, with the numbers 1-7 glowing faintly in the door way.

"Well…" Ness muttered, "Looks like I'm number two for a change." He stepped inside second year door which lead to a round room with servel four poster beds with red and gold starred curtains with large wooden trunks in front of the foot of each bed.

Ness was revealed to see his dark blue suitcase at the foot of the very last bed. He thought he had lost it at the train. Which would have been a great way to start of the first day at a new school.

Climbing into bed with his favorite striped pajamas, Ness fell asleep.

* * *

"So you're Ness EarthBound?" someone asked sounding amazed by Ness's mere presence as he followed Ginny toward the Great Hall for breakfast, "Yup, that's my name, don't wear it out." Ness said as he jumped over what might have been a fake stair,

"Wow!" a stocky girl with blonde hair exclaim, "So we have _two_ heroes in Gryffindor!" a boy with thick chestnut hair and an Irish accent smirked and exclaimed, "Now we're definitely one up over Slytherin!"

"Err… Great?" Ness said as his small group of fans disappeared to join friends for breakfast. "So where's Luna?" Ness asked once they were seated, "At the RavenClaw table." Ginny explained scooping a small helping of porridge onto her plate, Ness frowned and grabbed some toast and strawberry jam, "And the reason why we aren't sitting with her is because…?"

"Houses." Ginny bluntly said, "Each student says within his or her house for classes, meals and usually other activities that aren't for schoolwork."

"Great, everyone's an isolated island thanks to their house." Ness grumbled. Ginny didn't hear him and glanced at a schedule, "Let's see… First we have Transfigration."

"And where's that?" Ness asked. Ginny pointed at his schedule which has the classroom number beside Transfigration the class after that was Herbology.

"So what exactly happens in Transfigration?" Ness questioned, "We learn how to transform objects into other things." Ginny explained, "It's quite interesting."

"Huh…" was all Ness could say. After breakfast was over he followed Ginny to the 34th classroom and studied the ancient old wooden desks that allowed to people to be seated right next to each other, he quickly chose an empty table near the back while Ginny joined a peppy looking girl.

"Hullo." A tired looking boy with ginger hair greeted as he joined Ness's table, "Hey." Ness replied as Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom, "Good morning class, today we shall be practicing on transforming a beetle, into a button." She paused and looked around the classroom before continuing, "Turn to page 50 of your book and begin reading the chapter."

Ness did as told and blinked at the unfamiliar terms and words. He tried to read past the first few paragraphs but ended up getting a splitting headache, he managed to catch a glimpse of the incantation, " _Beetle-marucs-buttonals._ "

Before Professor McGonagall started to speak, "Now that you have the basics we shall being on transforming the beetle into a button, wand out!" a flurry of shuffling, and squeaks as students pulled out their wands, Ness fumbled for his which he had placed in his right pocket.

He had a sinking feeling that something was going to blow up as students began muttering, yelling and performing the spell needed to turn the beetle into a button.

"Okay." Ness muttered, "A circular motion then, say the spell easy. It's easy." Hoping that his words would crush that feeling in his gut he spun his wand in a slow circle and whispered, " _Beetle-marucs-buttonals._ " And waited. The beetle twitched and resumed walking around the desk.

"Okay… counter clock-wise?" Ness muttered, repeating the action only spinning the opposite way and saying the spell. Still nothing. He glanced at his partner, catching the name Austin Figg as he muttered the spell under his breath and spun it counter clockwise. He glanced around the room to see that everyone was doing it just like he did, but without much success.

Feeling slightly reassured that he wasn't the only one having problems he tried again. _"Beetle-marucs-buttonals"_ his wand sparkled a little, earning a small smile, " _Beetle-marucs-buttonals!"_ And _that_ was when Ness knew, he was not a wizard. The beetle spun in a circle paused then glowed an ominous pink. Ness barely had time to react as he toppled off his chair as the beetle exploded into a wave of thick blue stripes.

Startled screams followed by the loud bangs of chairs being tipped over backward promptly followed the silent explosion.

"Settle down!" Proffessor McGonagall ordered, "Settle down!" she marched over to Ness and Austin's table and gave them both a stern look, or tried to since Austin had passed out.

"What exactly happened here, Earthbound?" Proffessor McGonagall asked, although it seemed less like a question and more like an order, "I'm not sure Professor." Ness said, looking at his wand in surprise, "I was attempting to do the spell when the beetle glowed pink and exploded!"

"Have you ever attempted a spell before?" Professor McGonagall asked, Ness was about to say yes when he realized she meant magic spells. So he shook his head no.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips then swiftly turned around, "Resume your studies students." Was all she said for the remainder of the class. Ness deiced _not_ to try again and merely sat in silence wondering what the heck had happened.

He hadn't used PSI. He was sure of that, but that didn't seem like magic either, then again he had no clue what magic was like since this was his first day. But that pretty much ended up being his whole day, anything that didn't require magic spells went okay despite Ness having no knowledge on a living flytrap that had two heads or who Sir Cothwell was.

But classes that required a wand, like Charms ended up with something blowing up. Luckily when Ness tried to change the color of a grey mouse he just put everyone to sleep by using Omega Hypnosis. He spent the rest of the class apologizing to Professor Flitwit while helping him wake up other students.

"I'm telling you! I'm not cut out for this!" Ness said as he and Ginny walked toward the Great Hall for dinner, Luna magically joined his side and said, "Well, I managed to turn my mouse invisible if it makes you feel better."

"Thanks, but I think me blowing up a beetle and then putting everyone to sleep in Charms tops an invisible mouse." Ness grumbled, "At least it was a pretty explosion." Ginny offered, trying to cheer him up.

"Which could have hurt someone." Ness reminded her.

"Seems like your being cursed by a Wikletoe." Luna mused, "Terrible little creatures…"

"Hopefully." Ness sighed, Ginny glanced around and spotted Harry, "Well, maybe Harry has some advice!"

"How would Harry help anything?" Ness asked, "Did _he_ somehow evaporate/explode his beetle into nothingness?"

"Well um, no but—oh! Harry!" Harry looked up with a dark frown similar to Ness's and waved hello at them, Ron and Hermione nodded hello as Ness and Ginny joined them.

"Hello Ginny, Ness." Hermione said, sounding emotionally drained, "Have a good day." Ginny nervously glanced at Ness who sarcastically said, "Awesome, I manage to turn a beetle into nothingness and put everyone to sleep in Charms."

"Err… He's having a bit of a bad day." Ginny said, "Aren't we all." Ron muttered sounding like his pet cat had been drowned.

"What happened to you guys?" Ness asked, Harry glared at the Slytherin table and muttered, "It wasn't so much us, it was _Malfoy._ "

"And Professor nutjob." Hermione added. Ness frowned and asked, "Whose Professor nutjob?"

"She means Professor Trelawney, she's our deviation teacher." Harry explained, "She predicts that I shall have a dread death or something."

"Which is false." Hermione said.

"Wow, better watch your back Harry." Ness said, Hermione gave him a look of disbelief while Harry groaned and resumed eating his pudding. Ness deiced to drop the subject and put some steak on his plate.

Hopefully tomorrow would be a better day…

* * *

 **Next Chapter will be a little slow since I'm idea locked (Meaning that I have a clear vision of what I want to happen but unsure if I want to keep pressing a certain subject I.E writing Ness as a relaxed student whose basically going to blow everything off since he can't perform magic and doesn't believe that he belongs in Hogwarts) Also I'm going to be heading to Virginia this week for a late Summer Vacation :)**


	3. Chapter 3, Slytherins and Questions

The first thing Ness learned on his second day of school was this, Slytherin and Gryffindor cannot be friends. Why? Because they were rivals. Which seemed pretty immature to Ness since just because an entire section of a school hated each other didn't mean that _everyone_ should be a bias jerk to each other.

And the only reason why Ness learned this lesson was because he joined a Slytherin student for potions. Since he didn't really see much of any other house students due to classes Ness decided to try and meet as many different people as he could. Sure, his fellow housemates were cool, but Ness liked having a variety of different people to speak with who had different views on different subjects.

So the moment he stepped into the Potions classroom and spotted an empty bench with a Slytherin boy, he took it. The boy, Selvis Karma had looked up in surprise and narrowed his forest green eyes at Ness in suspicion.

"Hi." Ness said, Selvis sneered and hissed, "What are you doing Gryffindor scum? Trying to mess up my perfect grade?"

"Nah, just wanted to try and make a new friend."

Selvis looked at Ness for a good minute before he shakily asked, "What?"

"I want to try and make a friend, and if I do somehow wreck you're grade I'll help you out in Astronomy." Selvis raised an eyebrow as Ness added, "For three straight weeks."

That convinced Selvis, "Fine." He grumbled, "But don't expect me to get all buddy-buddy with you."

"I wasn't expecting it since we just met." Ness replied with a small smile. Selvis made a small growl but didn't say anything as Professor Snape swooped in. Studying the class with cold eyes, "So now we have two famous heroes in Hogwarts," Snape sneered.

Ness blinked in surprise. He didn't know he was famous, then again he didn't really understand anything about this world of magic. So he decided not to say anything.

"Today, we will be working on a Mood Iris potion." Snape started as he waved his wand, causing instructions to appear on a faded chalkboard behind him, "It's a potion that can normally bring a rainbow into the room and change the mood of those around them. Simple enough if you remember your coursework from last year."

Ness frowned as Selvis and some other kids from his house muffled their laughter. What was so funny? Sure it seemed difficult since it had a bunch of contradicting instructions like add a drop of something called Billywig sting and counter clockwise stir then add a teaspoon of fairy wings then stir clockwise before returning to the Billywig step.

Snape either didn't care or was expecting some of the kids to laugh since he ignored them and continued speaking, "Now before we begin, who knows the proper method to keeping the potion in a liquidated yet ethereal form?"

Selvis's hand shot up into the air while Ness thought for a bit, _"A liquid yet ethereal, form? I guess over cooking it isn't the answer…"_

After a bit of waiting Snape called on Ness or rather, his last name, "Earthbound, do you know what the answer is?" Snape asked sneering slightly. It took Ness a moment to connect 'Earthbound' to him, which earned him a couple snickers.

"I suppose the answer is to change the heat ever so often so it boils and then cools down." Ness answered, Snape gave a triumphant smirk and said, "So it appears that this hero is too busy being famous to study. Just like Potter."

Ness bit his tongue to withhold a snarky remark along the lines of, 'Yes, me discovering that I'm a wizard and a popular comic strip character is _totally_ the reason behind my lack of knowledge.'

Selvis raised his hand despite the fact that he was already speaking, "The correct way is to use a Wisp flame, which transfers ethereal matter into the potion, Sir." Snape's smirk grew wider as he said, "Exactly, 5 points to Slytherin." Which earned muffled growls from Ness's housemates.

" _Weird."_ Ness thought, and found Selvis's smug smirk at him even weirder. Since it seemed like a I'm better than you smirk that Porky usually had. But that didn't make sense since they just met and Ness didn't have any clue as to what he was doing

Of course he didn't have time to figure out why people were growling and groaning since Snape quickly got them started on their potion saying that the steam should be a see through mix of colors as they worked.

So far Ness was doing everything _except_ making the steam see through, was it because he had accidentally mixed in four teaspoons of fairy wings? Or because he had stirred counter clockwise when he needed to go clockwise?

Maybe if he added an extra teaspoon of flobber worms it would lighten up the steam, "Five more minutes." Snape announced, giving Ness a look as he lurked around the classroom.

"Peachy." Ness grumbled, he glanced at Selvis's potion which was a fine multi-colored mist, just like his should have been. What was he doing differently? Selvis caught Ness's questioning look and gleefully whispered, "Trying to figure out where you went wrong Earthbound?"

"Well, yea, since so far all I have is a thick cloud of light blue." Ness admitted, "Did you add an extra fairy wing or something?"

"What? No!" Selvis hissed, trying keep his voice low, "And besides, why would I tell a filthy Gryffindor anyway?" Ness frowned then managed a light smile, "Hey, I'll have you know that I am a squeaky clean Lion, Sir snake."

"Excuse me?" Selvis questioned, his eyes darkening. Before Ness could fix his mistake Snape said, "Time's up, fill a flask with your potion and bring it to the front desk."

Ness sent an apologetic glance at Selvis as he filled a flask which was really just a glass bottle with his Mood Iris. Which earned him an F-.

"Great, I'm awful at potions _and_ magic classes." Ness said as he, Ginny and a boy named Colin Creevy walked to their next class. "Well you were doing a lot better than me." Colin sighed, "I managed to make mine a thick pot of jello."

"Don't worry about it Ness." Ginny reassured, "Snape's always giving Gryffindor students bad grades."

"He is? Why?" Ness asked, "And how the heck hasn't he been fired?"

"Because he's one of Hogwarts greatest potion masters." Ness jumped and looked at Selvis who was sneering at them, "Hey Selvis," Ness greeted as Ginny and Colin glared at him. "What's up? Besides the sky of course."

Selvis gave him a strange look before he continued, "In fact, he'd made a perfect Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Ginny rolled her eyes and nudged Ness, "Come on, let's just go." Ness ignored her and asked, "So why would Snape make a good teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts? He seems more like a potion person to me."

"Simple, he's had years of experience, unlike that shabby excuse of a teacher, Professor Lupin." Selvis retorted.

"Oh shove off Karma." Colin snapped, "I've heard from everyone else that Lupin's a great teacher."

"Oh yes, like our last teacher, Professor Lockheart." Selvis sneered, "And he was _such_ a wonderful teacher."

Ness grinned at the name but didn't say anything. Selvis noticed this and turned on him, "And what are you grinning at Earthbound? Another one of your witty insults?"

"I'm just laughing at Lockheart's name. I've never heard anything like it." Ness said, "And besides, who have I insulted?"

Selvis opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed when Ness said, "Wait, are talking about me calling you Sir Snake? Because if so, I was joking."

"Joking!?" Selvis spluttered, "How was Sir Snake a joke?"

"The same way someone calling me Sir Lion would be a joke, since I'm in a Lion's den."

"What?!"

"Gryffindor. Lion symbol." Ness clarified, "Any other questions?" Selvis flushed a bright red when he noticed Ginny and Colin muffling their laughter, "This. Isn't over. And I decline your pathetic attempt to make amends with a tutoring session!" Selvis hotly declared as he spun on his heel and stormed to his class.

"Kay, see ya later!" Ness yelled.

"Are you actually happy about having a Slytherin coming after you?" Colin asked, sounding surprised. "Well, yea. He doesn't seem so bad." Ness said, when Ginny and Colin gave him a look he added, "Okay yea, he enjoys insulating people but he's a lot better than Porky."

"How? Slytherins' are ten time worse than any normal bully!" Colin argued, "And just why are Slytherin's bad guys? I haven't heard a good reason not to be friends with them." Ness replied.

"Just stay away from Slytherin's Ness." Ginny warned, "There a house of lying sneaks being led by Snape."

"Snape's their Head of House?" Ness questioned then he frowned and muttered, "That explains the high and mighty attitude."

"See! Another good reason to avoid Slytherin." Ginny said.

"No," Ness corrected, "Another good excuse to avoid Slytherin. They don't seem that bad." Ginny and Colin gave him a look but didn't add anything else as they stepped inside Greenhouse 9 for Herbology.

It went well since Ness actually looked up a couple plants beforehand to be somewhat prepared for class. They were working on some plants called Green Death which required the up-most concentration to avoid getting pricked by the slow moving plant of death.

His partner, a boy named Edward Humuis was quite talkative, chatting about Ness's adventures, the escape of Siruis Black and of course about the newest rumor floating around the school, which involved a boy named Draco Malfoy from Slytherin getting attacked by a Griffin.

"So it just attacked him?" Ness asked as he carefully pruned his Green Death, "Unprovoked?"

"That's what going around." Edward said leaning back as his Green Death tried to slowly swipe at him, "But knowing him, he probably annoyed the Griffin into attacking him to act like a drama King."

"Geez, is he okay?" Ness asked, Edward gave him a strange look as he resumed pruning his plant, "Why do you care? He's a stuck up little git."

"So? I'm still going to be worried about him if he got himself attacked by a Griffin. I don't want him to get killed or anything."

"…You're a weird one." Edward decided, ending the conversation. Ness frowned but didn't push it. After class Ness discovered that almost everyone had the same opinion on the Slytherin house except the Slytherins' who had all given him dirty looks when he tried to make small talk with them in the hallways.

"This doesn't make sense." Ness muttered he walked up the flight of stairs to Kale's classroom with his classmates, "Why does everyone hate Slytherin?" a boy in front of him slowed slightly as if to answer his question but Ness quickly cut him off, "And if you say it's because their house of backstabbers and evil wizards then I hurt you."

The boy resumed walking while Ginny said, "Well, it's that and because of some sort of rivalry. Something to do with the original founder of Gryffindor and Slytherin splitting up over what kind of wizards should be allowed to enter Hogwarts."

"And this dumb feud hasn't ended?" Ness said in disbelief. Ginny shook her head no as they stepped outside into the cool midnight air, "Welcome!" Professor Kale greeted his dreamy night blue robes practically glowing in the moonlight, "Today, we shall be observing the plant Uranus and its Five major moons."

His enthused greeting was met by muffled groans and a 'Cool!' from Ness as they went to set up their telescopes. Ness had brought his own batter telescope from home in order to avoid picking up a costly new one. It worked fine at home, so it should do the job here.

He focused on Ariel and looked around trying to see what else he could find to jot down in his Astronomy notebook. So far he hadn't found anything new besides the moon Cupid which was obscured behind another moon.

"Now then, who can point out the newest star besides Uranus?" Professor Kale abruptly said, interrupting the quiet scratching of quills and soft muttering. Ness quickly raised his hand and pointed his telescope toward an oddly bright beam of light, "It's by Titian's dark side sir."

"Excellent! Five points to Gryffindor." Professor Kale said. "As you can see, this star appeared a couple days ago, meaning that those born under the stars of earth are to expect a couple days of good luck. Be sure to keep an eye out for newly formed stars and where they appeared and what sign their under, they usually bring good fortune."

Ness looked around some more, trying to find Umbriel before class was over, so far. This was becoming his favorite class, he knew how everything worked, it was quiet, made sense and Professor Kale seemed cool. Clueless about everything that wasn't surrounding stars, but cool.

He sort of wished it lasted more than an hour as he finally stumble upon Umbriel and took note of where it was only to hear Professor Kale call the class to stop and receive their homework, "Now there are a total of five new stars around Mars, Neptune and Pluto, I want to have a one paged paper on what signs these new stars are and their fortune." Professor Kale explained, "This is due next Thursday and—Is that another comet?" Ness stifled a laugh as once again, Professor Kale found something more important than teaching a class.

* * *

The rest of September went along smoothly; Ness was slowly getting the hang of faking magic by expanding his PSI abilities (Which left him with daily migraines after every class.) His favorite teachers, Professor Kale and Professor Lupin always found a way to make their classes interesting.

Well, Lupin did, Kale was just off in his own little world until he saw something important in the night skies. For his first class with the second year students Professor Lupin had taught them how to use a defense spell, Protego and a basic attack spell, Stupify.

Ness had done great with his partner, a girl named Diana Rose when he was defending since all he did was point his wand and use Shield Beta when she used Stupify. But when it came time to switch Ness had trouble using Paralysis alpha since he had low PSI energy. Thankfully the lesson ended before Diana noticed anything odd.

Also, his relationship with Selvis was going well despite his poor attempts of insulating Ness since Selvis had grudgingly admitted that he needed help with Astronomy near the end of September during a Potions class.

Ginny thought it might have been a trap at first since Selvis needed lessons daily in order to maintain an okay grade. "I can't help but feel like this is a trap." Ginny muttered every time Ness accidentally mentioned his tutoring sessions with Selvis, "Well, trap or not. Selvis wanted me to keep this a huge secret. So I think I'm safe." Ness had replied, "Anyway, I'm off to teach Astronomy."

"Good luck." Ginny said, knowing how stubborn Selvis could be from Ness's many tales of him, Ness laughed and made his way to an empty tower, he had stumbled upon it when he was heading to Professor's Kale's classroom. It had seemed perfect for tutoring sessions since you could clearly see everything from the roof, despite the fact that it over looked the Forbidden Woods.

He was greeted by a curt, "You're late." From Selvis who had already set up his telescope and his charts, "You always say that." Ness reminded him as he set up his own telescope and checked his chart, he had already finished his homework but he brought it along for reference points. And so Selvis would stop claiming that he didn't know anything about Astronomy.

"Alright, so today we'll work on locating Titan which is…" he trailed earning an irritated sigh from Selvis who dutifully guessed, "One of Saturn's many moons."

"Right! Saturn has a total 62 moons, the only difference between Titan and the 61 other moons are…"

Another sigh from Selvis who grumbled, "the fact that Titan has the most mass of any of Saturn's moon."

"Right again!"

"Are you always like this?" Selvis asked, sending Ness a withering glare, "Annoyingly upbeat yet utterly laid back?"

"More or less." Ness replied as he studied Saturn, "If it's not a problem then I shouldn't worry about it."

"Ugh. You are impossible." Selvis grumbled, "Your supposed to be a Gryffindor! A brave and proud idiot! Not a laid back maker of peace who wants to be everyone's friend!"

"Hey, I don't want to be everyone's friend." Ness corrected, "I just like broadening my horizon."

"Ah-ha! So there is a reason as to why you want to be my friend!" Selvis said triumphantly, "That, and because you seem like a nice guy. Despite the fact that you yell a lot."

"I do not yell!" Selvis hissed his cheeks flushing slightly. Which was true since Selvis was usually hissing, but Ness wanted to avoid any more misunderstandings. This rivalry between houses thing made everything hard. The only people he seemed too able to talk with seemed to be Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw—

"Hey wait." Ness realized, "Why is it that only Gryffindor and Slytherin butt heads? I mean, the other three houses must have a reason as to why the hate Slytherin too. Right?"

"Oh please, they hate my house the same reason Gryffindor does, because we have dark wizards and don't like filthy mudbloods." Selvis replied, "The only difference is that those pathic houses let Gryffindor do all the work while they stand in the background, whispering awful things about us."

"So almost everyone is a Porky." Ness deadpanned, "Letting someone else win their battles which make absolutely no difference."

Selvis thought for a bit before he quietly muttered, "I suppose so." Ness sighed and looked up at the stars, "It must be rough. Unable to really talk to anyone outside your house because of this one event."

"I talk to people outside my house." Selvis retorted although he quietly muttered, "Sort of…"

"You know, if this dumb rivalry over who should and shouldn't be accepted never existed, I think everyone would get along just fine."

"Oh please." Selvis sneered, "As if anyone's going to willingly make friends with a Slytherin and vice versa."

"I'm trying to." Ness said, "Except your too busy worrying about boring stuff. Like status and class."

"Excuse me?! My family has a status as the best Broom makers in England to uphold! Status is the up-most importance you country rat!"

"Country rat? That's a new one. And who cares? You're a kid, status doesn't matter until your grown."

"Yes it does! I can make important connections while I'm in school!"

"And who are those connections?"

Selvis opened his mouth, paused then spun on his heel, "I have a bunch of them! I just can't remember their name at the moment, that's all."

"Don't you mean names?"

"Shut up! And besides, I know something you don't know."

"What?"

"That Harry Potter plans on hunting down Sirius Black." Selvis revealed, "Malfoy told him early September about how Black was the reason why his parents were dead."

"Really?" Ness thought for a bit before he lied down on the stone floor, "Well, if Harry wants to anything dumb, I'd rather wait to catch him in the act than waste energy."

"What?! I thought you two were buddy-buddy or something!"

"Dude, we're a year apart, I barely see him. I just hang out with Ginny."

Selvis growled then tried, "Oh yes, that idiotic puppet who unleashed the monster onto the school to kill all the Mudbloods. Nice to see that you enjoy hanging out with a Damsel in Distress."

Ness twitched slightly then looked at Selvis with an annoyed glare, "Congrats, you annoyed me."

"Yes! You are vulnerable to something!" Selvis cheered the he cleared his throat and said, "Not that it matters."

"And for that, you win a prize." Ness announced, Selvis blinked and then froze as Ness used Paralysis Alpha on him, "See ya in the morning." Ness said as he packed his stuff and headed toward the stairs.

"W-wait! Are you just going to leave me here? Frozen!?" Selvis demanded.

"No, I'm going to rescue you." Ness snarked.

"Oh. don't scare me like that!"

"That was sarcasm."

Selvis paled and yelled, "Hey wait! Don't leave me here! I'm sorry if I offended you or something!"

"Nah, I think you need to chill out for a bit."

"In the middle of October!? I'm wearing bloody pajamas! Pajamas!"

"Well why'd you do that?"

"Because it's the middle of the bloody night you brute!"

"Brutes use force. I use my mind." Ness replied. Selvis growled then yelled, "No wonder the School board banned PSI users from magic schools! You're walking disasters!"

Ness froze and turned around slightly, "The school board banned PSI users from Hogwarts?"

Selvis smirked and kept going, "And every magic school in Europe after an attack that happened 20 years ago, I know since my Mom's father was a witness. He barely made it out alive."

"If that's the case… then why am I still here?" Ness wondered, "And what caused the attack?"

"Well, I would tell you but…" Selvis trailed off and glared at Ness who nodded in understanding and used Healing V on Selvis who fell forward and landed on his school bag.

"Ow…" Selvis muttered before he continued, "The person who caused it was named Belinda Thimble, she was in her fourth school year and shopping around Diagon Alley with a couple friends from school. No one knows what triggered it, but all of a sudden people started to fly backwards and Belinda was screaming at them to get away from her while she hid in some alleyway. At least 15 wizards died before the Ministry could apprehend her. Some say she was having a mental breakdown, others said she was just plan crazy."

A shiver ran down his spine as he pictured Belinda attacking everyone, "But why did the school board ban all PSI users?" Ness asked before he added, "Besides the obvious fact of Belinda going insane."

"Because no one knew _who_ caused it at first. No one sensed any magic being used" Selvis explained, "It wasn't until she started screaming at everyone to leave her alone that people realized what was going on. She was just sitting in an alleyway, watching everyone run around in panic. My dad says that he was convinced that the world was ending."

"Which school did she go to?"

"Hogwarts of course, Headmaster Dippto invited her from America thinking she was a Witch was special powers, PSI wasn't very well known back then. So they didn't realize the dangers of having a person capable of doing pretty much everything without boundaries." Selvis answered. When he finished he gave Ness a questioning look, "Which why it's a miracle that you're even here, you brute. How did you even get in?"

"The school sent me a letter, claiming I was a wizard and Professor Kale gave me another letter from the Ministry saying the same thing."

"You're lying." Selvis retorted, "Where's your wand? If you really are a PSI user, then you shouldn't have a wand." Ness pulled out the small wand and handed it to Selvis, "I got it from the wand shop in Diagon Alley."

Selvis held it up and frowned, "And just why would Ollivander sell you a toy wand?"

"Toy?! I have a toy wand?"

"I just said that!" Selvis snapped, "And yes, I can't sense any official magic from this twig, just some charms to make it seem like the user's performing magic," he tossed it to Ness and scoffed, "Honestly, do you know anything about magic?"

"No! I'm still trying to figure out how to send letters." Ness retorted, a knot forming in his stomach at just how unusual it was for him to be at a school for wizard with practically a fake wand and with the ban of no PSI users still active.

"Really?" Selvis said in disbelief then he realized something, "So you were more or less forced here and told nothing about why you were here?"

"So it seems, unless Dumbledore mentioned something about me being here."

"No, he merely announced at that we had a transfer student from America joining us for the first time in 20 years." Selvis recalled, "He did say your name but everyone thought it was a joke since we all thought you were just a comic book character, actually. I think people still believe that."

The knot tightened as Ness remembered how many people seemed disturbed yet at the same time unfazed by his appearance, he had expected much more attention since he was in the news but at the same time figured that no one really read the comic section. Now he was wondering if it had something to do with the PSI ban wiping out all knowledge of the accident to keep the public safe.

The boys flinched as a strong gust of wind slammed blew past them, prompting them to quickly pack up and head inside the tower, "Hey Selvis, what's Dumbledore like?" Ness asked as they quietly headed downstairs. Selvis snorted in disbelief then caught himself, "I see him as an old kook, but everyone else worships him since he's the greatest wizard ever. It's a loud of junk, since he couldn't even protect the school from the Chamber of Secrets."

Ness made a mental note to prod Ginny for answers about the Chamber of Secrets before asking another question, "Does Dumbledore go out his away for anything?"

"Not unless it's for his hero Harry Potter." Selvis grumbled, "Everyone knows that Potter stole a potion ingredient from Snape but Dumbledore refuses to believe it, especially since Perfect Potter saved the day. Somehow." He glanced at Ness who was slowly walking alongside him, "Why do you ask? Want to know if he'll expel you for free or something?"

"Well… before I arrived at Hogwarts, I overheard Mrs. Weasly say that if anything happens to Harry, I would step in or something." Ness admitted, "So I'm wondering…"

"You think Dumbledore pulled some strings to have you protect Harry from some known disaster?" Selvis gasped, "If so… that would be the scandal of a century! He would become front page news for eons!"

"Shh!" Ness hissed as he heard something shuffling toward them, "Someone's coming."

"Bloody pickles." Selvis cursed, "It's probably Flich. He's the grounds caretaker and he hates students."

"Peachy. So do we run or…?"

"Running would be best." Selvis hissed, "Come on, I know a secret passageway." Ness nodded and followed Selvis through the seventh floor corridor, "Here." Selvis ordered pushing a surprinsgly still painting of a wizard glaring down at them, out of the way and revealing a small hole.

"Whoa… where does lead to?" Ness questioned, "It leads to the dungeon section," Selvis explained carefully crawling into the hole, "Careful, it's a slide."

"Double whoa…" Ness exclaimed as he followed Selvis and slide down the metal chute. It felt like ages until they landed in a heap on the cold stone floor.

Selvis cursed and struggled as they tried to untangle themselves before they looked around, "We're near one of Professor Mcroy's classroom." Selvis said, when Ness gave him a blank look he clarified, "Another potion teacher, don't worry about him. I'm pretty sure he's dead."

"Has anyone told the staff?" Ness asked as he stood up and looked down the dark hallway, "I dunno. And I don't really care." Selvis said he held up his wand and muttered "Lumois!" summoning a faint green light.

"Wait, shouldn't we use a torch or something?" Ness asked, "I'm pretty sure green light isn't normal." Sevlis scowled but killed the light, "Well there aren't any torches so we're stuck with Lumois."

"I have fire though."

"No you don't." Selvis sneered as Ness put out his hand and thought for a bit, repeating the steps he had used last time to summon fire against the Demontor, Ness grinned as a weak flame appeared and illuminated the darkness.

"You can summon fire?!" Selvis exclaimed then he cleared his throat and repeated his question in a whisper, "Sort of." Ness replied winching at the slight headache that was starting up, "Fire's usually Paula's PSI but we've been showing each other how to use different attacks."

Selvis gasped in awe then quickly frowned, "Come on, let's head to bed before Flitch somehow finds us."

"Sounds good to me."

They carefully made their way through the dungeons and back to the first floor it was there that Selvis left him for his common room saying, "We shall continue this discussion tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow's a school night." Ness reminded him, "And what do you mean discussion?"

"The discussion of figuring out why you're here of course!" Selvis said, "I bet there are loads of dark reasons as to why that old kook is still here! Loads!"

"If you say so." Ness said as he watched Selvis disappear back into the dungeons. Although this mean that Ness was left alone with more questions which he had been trying to forget, besides the basic why am I here and what am I supposed to do, he now wondered why Dumbledore would allow Ness to stay here.

Did he know about his PSI powers? Probably, after all the comic had probably stated everything about him and his friends, and Dumbledore had to know about the attack, he was alive during that point and it was probably all over the news.

So why? Ness sighed and looked at the painting of the Fat Lady, who was fast asleep not wanting to get yelled again for waking her at up 3 in the morning Ness used Healing V to wake her up and said, "Fortuna Major."

"Why must you insist on coming in so late." The Fat Lady grumbled as she swung open and allowed Ness entry, "Because nighttime is the best time to see the stars." Ness grumbled, too tired for a wittier remark. Right now all he wanted to do was get some sleep and hopefully quill the rampage questions in his head.

Of course, fate wouldn't let him do that since a migraine started and forced him to lean against one of the puffy couches, "I've really got to manage my PSI better." Ness grumbled as he waited for the waves of dizziness to fade away. "Hrmmm… Ness…?" Ness glanced down and saw Ginny rubbing her eyes.

"Hey Gin-gin, what's up?" Ness asked, winching at the sudden tired edge in his voice. He surely wasn't _that_ tired.

"I had a question about one of the stars we were studying." Ginny said, sitting up and giving Ness a worried look, "Are you alright? Did Selvis try to jinx you or something?"

Ness hesitated before he sighed and said, "Before I answer that question, I have a question for you."

"Sure, what is it? Are you still wondering about the magic plates?" Ginny asked, recalling the first few times Ness had asked about that.

"No, although they still don't make any sense. But what I wanted to ask was, what do you know about PSI?"

"It's other form of magic right? Only American wizards deal with solely elemental, mental and physical types of magic right? Like how Paula could use fire magic sometimes or how Poo could use ice magic."

"Is this how everyone sees PSI?"

"More or less. Why do you ask?"

"Well, because first off, PSI isn't magic, it's short for **Psi** onics, and we don't need a wand, hand motions or anything. We just need our minds."

Ginny frowned and said, "Still sounding like magic."

"Can magic mentally change someone's mood without a difficult spell?"

"You could use a charm or a potion on them to make it easier."

Ness groaned and thought for a bit, trying to figure out how best to explain it, "Alright, as far as I know, PSI and magic are too different things. Magic requires mental, physical and emotional will since you need to make hand gestures and other stuff, while PSI just requires the mind, the only difference between PSI users is their personality, which is where the PSI stems from."

"Seeing a slight difference." Ginny said, "But why are you asking about this now? Did something come up?"

Ness looked around before he joined Ginny on the couch, "While I was with Selvis he said that PSI users were banned from the school and asked how I was able to come here, I told him about the weird letters—which I shall explain afterwards—and he told me about this girl, Belinda something, who was from America and used PSI."

"Wait, PSI users were banned from Hogwarts?" Ginny questioned, "Why would they banned a different type of magic?"

"Because, it's not magic." Ness explained feeling exasperated by Ginny's lack of understanding, "It's like juice and water, you can drink both of them and there slightly the same but they aren't at the same time."

"So you're asking me about PSI to see if I knew about Belinda." Ginny realized.

"That, and to see what you knew about PSI, I'm not completely sure how their different since Magic makes no sense to me and honestly I don't want to think at the moment since I have a migraine but I'm wondering if no one really knows about how different PSI and magic are."

Ginny nodded and looked into the fire, "Well, I might have a small answer for that."

"You do? What?"

"You said you helped scare off the demontor with fire, right?" Ginny recalled, Ness nodded yes and waited for her to continue, "But Professor Lupin said that only a Patronus could scare it off, and later in class he said that the reason why that was, was because a Patronus emits positive feelings from the user, which contradicts the Demontor since it feeds on negative emotions. So how did you scare it off with just fire?"

Ness thought for a bit before he answered, "I'm not totally sure, at the time I was trying to follow Paula's instructions and was thinking of this giant warm ball of fire. I guess the mental picture of warm fire freaked the Demontor out a bit since I wanted to help Harry?"

"Maybe…" Ginny said, she leaned back against the couch before she stood up again, "We should continue this in the morning, this is giving me a headache."

"Cool, see you in the morning." Ness mumbled trying to remember what he had exactly done to the Demontor in the first place.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun! A mystery! Sort of. Thanks again Zentari2238 for pointing out details I missed! Hopefully this properly explains some things I skipped over in Chapter Two . :)  
**


	4. Chapter 4, Magical, yet not magical

"So you've been getting migraines by overusing your PSI powers?" Ginny asked in a low voice as she grabbed a piece of toast, Ness nodded and took a bite out of his pancake, "More or less, I've been trying to use PSI to mimic magic so I could get a passing grade. But since I haven't been allowing myself to rest in-between class I've been getting headaches."

"Huh." Was all Ginny said before she took a bit into her toast, Ness glanced around the Gryffindor table and frowned when he didn't see Harry sitting with Ron and Hermione, which was odd since it was a school day and class was due to start in an hour.

"Hey Ginny, where's Harry?" Ness finally asked once he was sure that the lightning scared boy wasn't anywhere in the room.

"Probably sleeping in." Ginny guessed, "He has Qudditch practice and I heard that this is Wood's, the captain, last year at Hogwarts."

"What's Qudditch again? I know you mentioned it before."

"It's a sport involving broomsticks and four special balls, the four houses play against each other to try and win the House cup. Gryffindor hasn't won in ages thanks to all the chaos that's been going on lately."

"How many teams there? Or is it just a school thing?"

"Qudditch is national, I'm pretty sure that every region has a Qudditch team, even America although I don't think there are that many matches against their teams."

"Well that would explain why an American transfer isn't that big a deal." Ness grumbled,

"Well, there are wizards from all over the world." Ginny said, "That's probably why there isn't a huge fuss about it."

Ness sighed and resumed eating breakfast, wondering what the heck he should be focusing his energy on. Thankfully he didn't have time to dwell on it since a Barn owl landed in front of him with a letter, "Great, another mystery letter." Ness grumbled, he glanced at the owl who was sticking its leg out waiting for him to take it. It seemed impaction since it was ruffling its feathers and shooting him a dirty look.

"Alright, alright." Ness said, he untied the letter and muttered, "Bird brain." As the owl flew away.

"Whose it from?" Ginny asked, studying the letter with slight interest, "Oh! Maybe it's something that can help with your, 'dilemma." Ness opened it and frowned at the bold letters that just said to meet someone at the Owlery during lunch.

"Weird, it doesn't say whose it from." Ness noted, "It just says to meet me at some Owlery during lunch."

"Odd." Ginny noted, "Maybe it's Selvis?"

"Why would he send a letter? Couldn't he just meet up with us for potions?"

"I don't think Snape would appracte it us sitting near his students after hearing the story of him in a dress."

"True…" Ness said, he sighed and looked around out of pure boredom, class would be starting soon, which meant more headaches to go around while he waited for lunch. The only good thing was that he only had one class that involved casting spells and it was a double class with Professor Flitwick.

"I wonder if Luna has an idea." Ginny mused as the hurried to their first class, Potions.

"Maybe." Ness said, trying to focus on breathing instead of talking. He wasn't a very good runner and having to practically sprint to class wasn't always fun. Especially when other students blocked the hall, "Luna does seem to be out there."

"And she might know something." Ginny said as they made a sharp turn and climbed the stairway, "After all, she loves reading about unimaginable things."

Ness nodded in agreement and slowed down to a brisk walk as they entered Snape's classroom, Selvis was already there, sitting with a pencil thin Slytherin girl who was leering at everyone. Ness noticed that Selvis seemed to be glaring at Ness's bag before looking at his potion book then looking up to glare some more at Ness's bag.

 _"So Selvis did send the letter."_ Ness realized as he sat down next to Colin who was twiddling his thumbs, watching Snape with slight unease as he glided around the classroom, giving everyone except his house the evil eye.

Ness was used to this and mostly focused on a much more pressing matter besides concocting a swelling draft. Like what did make PSI so different than magic? He thought he had found a slight answer to his question but the more he thought about it, the more they seemed the same.

It was frustrating and made Ness's brain feel like mush, which was probably why he accidently added dragon breath to his potion and blow it up. Losing ten points for Gryffindor and earning another F.

"I suppose you were overthinking?" Ginny asked as they walked toward Charms, their next class, "Under thinking." Ness corrected, "I was trying to find more differences between PSI and magic."

"Did you find anything?

"Not really. Just another headache."

"Maybe you should avoid thinking about it until lunch time." Ginny suggested.

Ness groaned and adjusted his backpack, "But then I'll have to think about the boring subject at hand!"

"Charms isn't boring." Ginny said, "It's interesting."

"And dull." Ness grumbled, Ginny rolled her eyes and picked a seat near the back of class, Ness sat beside her and watched Professor Flitwick write down the charm they were supposed to be using. It seemed to be a charm called Aresto Momentum, which would slow the object down.

"Now the trick here is to toss the ball up high—like this-," Professor Flitwick instructed tossing a foam ball up in the air to prove his point "And say the spell with confidence. Understood?"

He received a couple "Understood." Before he allowed them to start. As usual Ness ignored the written instructions and tips and started to toss the ball up and down out of boredom.

"Any luck?" Ness asked as Ginny tossed the ball up and pointed her wand at it, saying "Aresto Momentum." She caught and shook her head no, "I just can't get the hang of this."

"Well, it is out of reach." Ness teased,

"Very funny." Ginny said, "Let's see you try it then."

"Prepare for explosions." Ness warned, he tossed the ball up in the air and pictured it slowing down and slowly stopping, he saw a swirl of rainbow lines engulf the orange foam ball before disappearing.

"Odd… Nothing blew up." Ness muttered, he made to grab the ball when Ginny stopped him, "Ness, it isn't moving." Ginny whispered, looking amazed as the ball hovered a couple inches over Ness's hand. Ness glanced at Professor Flitwick who was working with another student and grabbed the ball then panicked when the ball refused to move. He couldn't even squeeze it!

"Ginny. I can't move it." Ness whispered, trying to carefully pull the ball back without attracting everyone's attention.

"What? Try reversing the spell." Ginny offered looking a little worried.

"I didn't use a spell!" Ness hissed, "I just pictured it slowly stopping and then some rainbow lines briefly engulfed it!"

"Rainbow lines? I didn't see anything." Ginny said, now trying her own luck with pulling the ball out of the air only to fail, "Try picturing it returning too normal." Ginny offered.

"Right." Ness pictured it falling back down and acting like a normal foam ball. Some black lines engulfed it and then the ball fell into Ginny's hand.

They exchanged a look of surprise as the bell rang and studied the ball the entire way to the Owlery during their lunch break. "About time." Selvis sneered, he froze when he spotted Ginny standing beside him, "Why is _she_ here?" Selvis demanded.

"The same reason Ness was called up here." Ginny retorted,

"I summoned _Ness_ here, not you snake charmer." Selvis hissed.

"Wow… there are a lot of owls here." Ness noted, studying the army of birds who gave him an intrigued look, "And there all awake! Well, most of them."

"Well it might something to do with the fact that we're in an Owlery." Selvis snapped, "A place for _owls_!" Ness ignored him and studied a snow white owl which was dozing.

"This place is sooo cool." Ness said, "Yes, lovely birds now can we move onto something important?!" Selvis demanded, he pointed at Ginny who gave him a cold look, "Why did you bring Weasly here?!"

"Firstly, her name is Ginny and secondly, she wants to solve the mystery of Psi and Magic." Ness explained. Selvis frowned and stroked a pointed owl, "What mystery? Their clearly two different things."

"Yea no," Ness, "Can magic completely stop a foam ball with ease?"

"And make it impossible to move afterwards?" Ginny added.

"Of course." Selvis snorted, "You just need the right spell." Ness raised an eyebrow and tossed the ball in the air repeating the steps he had performed in Charm class to make the rainbow lines reappear. Just like last time it froze in the air and stayed there.

"So? You used _Aresto Momentum_ big deal." Selvis said as he reached out and grabbed the ball, then he frowned when he realized that he couldn't move it. "What spell did you use?!" Selvis demanded as he used his other hand to give himself more leverage over the inanimate object.

"I'm not a magic user." Ness deadpanned as Selvis leaned back and pulled even harder, "And all I did was picture it, cause some rainbow lines to appear and it just started to stay in place."

"What rainbow lines?! I just saw you looking at this bloody ball!" Selvis snapped, "I didn't see anything either." Ginny admitted.

"Really? Weird." Ness looked at the owls who were now watching Selvis struggle with the ball, "I guess wizards can't see PSI moves." Selvis pulled out his own wand and pointed it at the ball yelling "Flippendo!" He growled in anger as the spell disappeared the moment it collided with the ball. Doing absolutely nothing to it.

"If it makes you feel better, Ginny and I were having panic attacks on trying to hide the ball from Professor Flitwick during class." Ness offered when Selvis shot him a murderous glare.

"Didn't you have something important to tell Ness?" Ginny asked, Selvis gave the ball one last glare before he put his wand away, "Yes, I had something to tell Ness, not you Weasly." Selvis spat.

"Oh for crying out loud." Ness said, he turned to Ginny and asked, "Do you trust Dumbledore?" Ginny hesitated then admitted "Not really, honestly I can't help but feel like he's hiding something or purposely letting people get people hurt for some secret agenda."

"See Selvis, she doesn't trust the old kook either." Ness said turning to Selvis who was now looking unsure, "Right." Selvis grumbled, "I was going to suggest that we use the upcoming Hogsmead trip as a way to explore the library and see if they were any other PSI users let into Hogwarts."

"Couldn't we just use the library any time?" Ness asked,

"Yes, but mostly everyone well be out having fun. Meaning that the castle will be practically empty of any spies." Selvis explained.

"That sounds like an awesome idea," Ness started, "But there's one problem."

"What is it?"

"If no one knew about Psi or Belinda then what makes you think that the last headmaster willingly left scraps of evidence pointing toward the accident?" Ness questioned, "He has a point." Ginny said, "The ministry would have swept it under the rug to avoid panic."

Selvis opened his mouth to argue then sighed, "Fine, so what do you propose instead?"

"I say we find the real difference between PSI and Magic, there has to be a huge reason for PSI to be banned beside one small outburst." Ness said, "What outburst?" Ginny asked her question was quickly shot down by Selvis who said, "We'll tell you later."

Ginny frowned and folded her arms, "If we're going to work together then you should fill in the blanks Karma." Selvis scowled at her and tried to argue with her when Ness interrupted them, "Alright, so on Halloween we meet up with Luna at the rooftop overseeing the Forbidden woods and—,"

"I'm sorry." Selvis interrupted looking disgusted with Ness, "Do you mean Loony Luna?" causing Ginny to snap, "She not loony!"

"Yes Selvis." Ness answered then resumed speaking, "And while we wait we look around for possible answers to be tossed around during the meeting."

"And what happens when we find nothing?" Ginny asked, "We ask Paula, Poo and Jeff for help. After all, I bet their wondering why I'm even here." Ness finished.

"Do you even know how to contact them?" Selvis asked,

"Nope. No clue."

Selvis face palmed while Ginny sighed and explained, "You use an owl to send a letter to people outside of Hogwarts, must students have their own owls but the school provides a couple."

"Like my wonderful Southern White faced owl, Kir." Selvis boasted, "He's a prime example of a mail carrier." Kir stirred slightly and shot Selvis a look, silently demanding to know why his master was talking about him.

"So they just know where to go? Without and address?" Ness questioned, "Well, they do need an address but other than that it's easy as pie." Ginny clarified.

"Huh, I thought this would be a lot harder." Ness said, he approached Kir and held out a hand, "Hey buddy, what's going on—OW!" Ness jerked his hand back as Kir gave an outraged screech and tried to bite his fingers, "Kir!" Selvis scolded sounding bewildered by his owl's outburst, "What's gotten into you!?"

"I guess he doesn't like kids with black eyes." Ness grumbled as Kir shot Ness a glare and puffed up, "Odd, I've never seen an owl act like that before." Ginny noted she jumped as Ness tried to say hello to a tawny barn owl and received another attempt to bite his fingers off.

"Okay! Birds hate me." Ness declared, Selvis and Ginny exchanged a look of confusion, suggesting that owls had never openly tried to attack someone before, "Maybe you're sending off the wrong signals?" Ginny suggested, "Oh!" Selvis said, realizing something, "Maybe it's because you aren't a wizard _or_ a human!"

Ginny and Ness gave Selvis a look, forcing Selvis to explain himself, "Well, owls are usually used by wizard to commutate with each other without attracting muggles attention. So that means that their usually surrounded by magic since there smart enough to understand what we're talking about."

"Sort of not following you." Ness said as Ginny caught on too what Selvis was saying, "So you think they can sense Ness's Psi powers? Like how a cat can sense a ghost?"

"That has to be it, it's either that or Ness is really bad with animals."

"Hey! I have a dog at home and he doesn't have a problem with me!" Ness protested but before he could say more the bell rang, forcing them to head for second period.

* * *

Halloween arrived faster than Ness expected, he swore that Hogwarts had some sort of time spell that made everything go faster since he could barely remember the past few days. Although that was probably because of the increasing migraines he'd been getting from practicing fake magic and experimenting with his PSI powers.

"Well." Ness sighed as he climbed the tower leading to the west roof, "At least I can read my letters in peace." He smiled down at the simple colored envelopes in his bag and studied his little sister's letter, which had been decorated with all sorts of fall themed stickers.

"I wonder what exciting thing Tracy's been up to." Ness mused as he stepped outside and took a deep breath of crisp fall air, "Hopefully something Halloween themed." He grumbled sitting down in the corner of the roof to read his mail while he waited for Ginny, Luna and Selvis to arrive.

Tracy's letter was surprisingly quick and to the point, talking about how she told everyone at school what happened to him and warning him not to abuse his PSI powers, then adding that he had forgotten his baseball bat and wanted to know if he wanted her to send it to him.

"I don't even think they allow bats here." Ness grumbled as he folded her letter up and put it away to read his mother's which was long and basically full of motherly worries, like 'make sure you're going to bed on time!' and also, 'if doing magic gives you a headache then just focus on writing it down to practice later, I know you're used to pushing yourself but this isn't a quest the save the world!'

 _"But what if it really is?"_ Ness wondered as he went to read Paula's letter, which was oddly… sappy and full of worries. Which seemed odd for Paula since she was usually the calm anchor who knew how to get things done, with or without her frying pan.

She seemed interested in Ginny however, probably because she had at least seven brothers while Paula was an only child. Ness made a mental note to explain more about Ginny the next time he wrote home.

Poo was more short phrase of, "Beware of those with hidden plans." While Jeff was at least three papers long full of PSI theories and why magic was interfering. The only thing that made sense to Ness was Jeff's definition of magic and his somewhat helpful theory of why PSI and magic were different. Before Ness could read into it more the tower door swung open and Ginny and Selvis walked through, arguing.

Ness blinked in surprise as Luna glided in after them and closed the door, "Hello Ness." Luna greeted, "How have you been?"

"Meh." Ness answered before he pointed to Ginny and Selvis, "What's up with them though?"

"Not sure, something to do with Harry I believe." She sat down beside Ness and studied Jeff's letter, "Letters from home?"

"Yea, and Jeff actually pointed out something insightful." Ness said he glared at Ginny and Selvis who were practically yelling and snapped, "Yo! Cool it you two!"

Ginny flushed and angrily pointed at Selvis, "It's not my fault he's a mouthy git!"

"Looks whose talking snake girl!" Selvis retorted, "I bet you enjoyed going on a power trip!"

"Oh dear…" Luna mused as Ginny whipped out her wand and yelled "Stupifiy!" Selvis whipped out his own wand and stuttered, "Protago!" summoning a small blue shield which barely protected him.

"Alright knock it off!" Ness ordered using Paralysis Omega on both of them, they yelped and tried to move only to find that they couldn't.

"Although I'm really curious to know why you and Selvis were fighting." Ness said, "I'm just going to skip that point and ask if you saw anything odd."

"Besides this red haired freak." Selvis snarled, "No, now unfreeze me you brute!" Ginny glowered at him while Luna shook her head no, "I just saw Selvis and Ginny freeze up."

"So you didn't see any yellow lines blasting them?" Ness asked, Luna shook her head no again, "Sorry."

"So Jeff is right!" Ness exclaimed, "Who is Jeff and why is he right?" Selvis asked.

"He's a friend back home and a science geek who found some helpful information." They gave him blank looks at the term 'geek' forcing Ness to explain, "Geek, it's slang for someone who likes school and or science."

"So would that Granger girl be a geek?" Selvis asked, "She seems like one to me." Ginny glared at him and opened her mouth to argue when Ness cut them off, "Anyway, he was saying that one of the possible reasons why PSI and Magic are so different is because of how its performed."

"Performed how?" Ginny asked while Selvis snapped, "Will you unfreeze us before you continue explaining this theory?!"

Ness rolled his eyes and performed Healing V before continuing, "Well, you guys can't see what I see when I perform PSI. Right?"

They nodded yes. "And wizards have to use their wands, charms and potions in order to properly use magic. Right?" they nodded yes again and Luna's eyes let up, "Oh! You think the difference between wizards and PSI users is that one requires a tool while the other only needs their mind?"

"That's what I'm getting from Jeff's letter." Ness said, waving it in the air slightly.

"If that's the case then how come you seem to be able to _see_ magic while we can't?" Ginny questioned.

"I dunno. Maybe it's because thought power going through a magical stick?" Ness offered. Selvis groaned and sat down, "I'm beginning to think that PSI and Magic are a curse, every time we find learn something new, another question pops up."

"But that's what makes it so exciting!" Luna exclaimed, looking fully awake for once, "After all once we answer the little questions then we can move onto why the Ministry banned PSI users from Hogwarts and why Ness is here."

"And figure out what Dumbledore has to do with all of this." Selvis said. Ginny nodded in uneasy agreement, "Maybe he's worried about Harry's safety?"

"Maybe." Luna mused, "Or maybe he's been taken over by a PSI monster that only Ness can defeat."

"If that's the case then wouldn't he _not_ invite me to Hogwarts? Or at least cancel my acceptance if the monster took over _after_ he sent me the letter?" Ness asked.

"Point." Selvis grumbled while Luna thought about this, "Well, maybe that's not the case." Ginny said, "But maybe we should look for physical differences between PSI and magic."

"How so?" Selvis questioned.

"Simple, Ness duels one of us while the other two observe and see how things play out." Ginny explained, Selvis's eyes lit up and he sent Ness a murderous grin, "Finally you suggest something interesting."

"Well, looks like we're watching then." Luna said. Ginny joined her on the floor and watched as Ness and Selvis stood at the opposite ends of the tower, "Alright, no dangerous spells or attacks, just the basics." Ginny instructed.

"No promises." Selvis sneered as he pointed his wand at Ness, posed and ready to strike, "Well, that won't be a problem since I only have one offensive attack that I feel confident in using." Ness said, standing up straight and allowing his arms to hang loosely at his sides. It felt so weird not to have his trusted baseball bat in his hands.

"Begin!" Ginny said, Ness jumped to the side as Selvis yelled, "Flipendo!" firing a much larger blue ball of magic at the castle wall. "So that can increase in size." Ness noted as Selvis quickly followed up with a leg binding jinx.

Ness flinched as he was hit by the spell and felt his arms and legs stick to his sides, a brief surge of panic rose as Ness saw the words, **status paralyze** hover briefly in his line of vision before fading. It had been ages since he had seen a status warning that usually told him what was wrong.

He used Healing V and pointed at Selvis, "Hypnosis A!" light purple lines briefly surrounded Selvis who jumped back in surprise, then fell forward, fast asleep.

"Amazing." Luna breathed as Ginny shook and prodded Selvis with her wand, "How did you manage to get out of the jinx?" Ginny asked once she was sure that Selvis was out for the count.

"It came up as paralyze so I used Healing V on myself and countered." Ness explained with a small shrug of his shoulders, "No big deal."

"You saw what the jinn status was?" Luna asked sounding even more awestruck than before.

"Well, yea. If I didn't know what was my condition, then I would just waste PSI points trying to heal myself and the others." Ness said, "Speaking of which, I need to sit down. Everything's trying to spin."

"Do we need to take you to Madam Pomphrey?" Ginny asked sounding a little worried, "Nah, I just need to rest." Ness said as Selvis stirred and muttered something about flying carpets. Luna pulled out a journal and scribbled something down, "What's that Luna?" Ginny asked.

"A secret journal, I'd figure it might be useful to take notes of our discovery and unanswered questions."

"Cool, so we're a secret club now." Ness said, "Whaaa? What secret club?" Selvis slurred as he sat up and rubbed his eyes, "And why was I taking a nap on the cold stone?"

"It's not important." Ginny said, "But if we are going to be a club then shouldn't we have a cool name?"

"Yea! But what? I'm drawing a blank." Ness admitted, Luna thought for a bit before she offered, "How about The PSI Decetives?"

"Too out in the open." Selvis said, "We don't want more people to wonder about PSI since it could get Ness in serious trouble with the Ministry."

"The ministry's like the government. Right?" Ness asked, Selvis shot Ness a disgusted look while Ginny and Luna shared a look, "I keep forgetting that you're like Harry." Ginny said sounding apologetic.

"I'm like Harry? How?" Ness questioned, They'll answer that question later. Can we focus on one thing at a time?" Selvis said, "Like figuring out a cool club name?"

Ginny glared at Selvis while Luna suggested, "How about Boundless? That sounds catchy."

"And it fits with our current agenda." Ness offered, "So Boundless it is."

"I bet I can make cool badges that can single future meetings." Luna mused, "Fine, but it can't be too noticeable." Selvis said, "It has to be discreet."

"Sounds like you're enjoying being in a secret club." Ness teased, Selvis glowered at Ness while Ginny smothered a laugh, "I am not enjoying the privilege of being in a secret club! I'm just glad to know that I'm not the only one who opposes Dumbledore, that's all!" Selvis argued.

"Still sounds like you like the secret club." Luna pointed out. "And having people with similar view points." Ginny mused. Selvis stiffened then changed the subject, "You wanted to know something about Potter, right?"

"Yea, why the heck am I like him?" Ness questioned.

"Well, you both came to Hogwarts with no real clue why you were brought here and you know nothing of the magical world but became heroes." Ginny explained, "Without much of a choice." Selvis grumbled.

"Harry's done something besides being a miracle kid?"

"Yup, he defeated Voldemort _again_ in his first year and sealed off the Chamber of Secrets while rescuing Ginny." Luna answered.

"Wow." Ness whistled, "Harry also grew up with filthy Muggles." Selvis added.

"Wow again."

"As for the Ministry, it's basically a magical version of the Government." Ginny explained, "They ensure that everyone follows the rules and that Muggles don't find out about the wizarding world."

"It's quite busy." Luna mused, "Especially with all the Flitter-Sparks hovering around the workers."

Selvis opened his mouth to say something then closed it, probably realizing that asking Luna what a Flitter-Spark was would get him nowhere.

"Right, so what should we do next?" Ginny asked, "We still have about four hours left before everyone else comes back from Hogsmeade."

"We could find history books that might have studied PSI before it was banned." Luna suggested,

"Vetoed, anyone with a brain would have gotten rid of those books once the ban was in place." Selvis said.

"We could explore the castle for cool hiding spots." Ness offered, "After all we could stumble upon a clue."

"Or the castle's kitchen." Sevlis mused, "I've heard that the door way is a fruit painting with a secret code."

They gave Selvis a curious look which prompted him to shrug and say, "I like to lurk in the corners of the castle to hear juicy gossip. It beats moping around the Common Room once classes are over."

"So that's how you knew about Potter going after Black." Ness realized.

"Nah, that was because Malfoy was bragging about it after Potions."

"Wait, Harry's going after Black?" Ginny questioned, "Why on earth would he do that?"

"According to Malfoy, it's because Black had something to with Potter's parents getting killed." Selvis said mischievously, "I'm not exactly sure what happened but I do know that the Black family were _huge_ followers of Voldemort."

"So is that why Ness is here?" Luna questioned, "To stop Black from exacting his revenge on Harry for killing his master or to stop Harry from killing Black?"

"I dunno. Maybe?" Ness said. Ginny thought for a bit before she slowly said, "Hold on, if that was the case then wouldn't Dumbledore try and recruit Poo and Paula to stop Black? After all he is a notorious murderer."

They thought about this before Selvis shook his head no, "Impossible, with three students coming from America who were all from Ness's 'comic adventure' it would be a big red flag to the Ministry and to the other students that something was up."

"So we're back too square one." Ness sighed, "Not knowing why I'm here since I clearly can't use magic and PSI is clearly banned."

"Well, maybe the ban got vetoed." Luna offered, "After all, it might have been a spur of the moment thing thanks to a Biggily Horn."

"Every time you speak sense more nonsense comes out of your mouth." Selvis grumbled, "Make sense or don't!"

"If everything made sense then where would the fun be?" Ness asked earning a glare from Selvis who collected his bag and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Ginny asked, "To the realm of sense." Selvis retorted and with that he headed back inside the castle.

"Huh, he stayed longer than I thought he would." Ness said once a few minutes passed and they were sure Selvis was gone.

"He's interesting." Luna mused while Ginny shook her head, "Well, I have no clue on what to talk about next, so I'm going to take a nap." Ness announced, "My head's killing me."

"I think I'm going to look around the castle for Luck-Lows." Luna said, she stood up and looked at Ginny, "Would you like to come along?"

"Sure, maybe I can find my missing sock." Ginny said. "I swear I had it yesterday." Ness laughed and made his way to the Common Room which was full of First and Second years who were chatting, playing some type of chess or just studying.

He glanced at Hermione's devil cat which was sulkily sitting in a corner, probably upset that it hadn't been able to kill Ron's rat, he was tempted to say hello but decided not to when he remembered the long jagged cuts he had received from the mangy cat.

So he headed up to his bed and promptly went to bed in hopes of soothing the pounding in his skull. It didn't work since he promptly snapped awake with a feeling that he needed to do something.

Actually, it reminded him of when he woke up and went with Porky to find his little brother Picky. The entire walk Ness had a feeling that something important was about to happen and the wild animals attacking them hadn't helped that nagging feeling that something would happen.

"Alright, headache's gone. It's the middle of the night." Ness muttered as he looked out the window and at the Halloween moon softly glowing in the black night sky, he stared at it for a while until he jolted to his feet, "Crud! I'm missing dinner!" he stumbled down the stairs and entered the Common room which was completely empty, even Crookshankies was gone.

"I bet they have a bunch of Halloween snacks out." Ness grumbled as he crawled into the portiator hole, about to push it open when he heard a rough voice growl, "Let me in. Or else!"

Ness tensed as the Fat Lady angrily retorted, "No password, no entry!" the owner of the voice growled again and Ness could hear brief movement before the Fat Lady gave a hysterical scream as the man stabbed her painting, ripping into it.

"No way…" Ness breathed, without thinking he tried to force the door to open in hopes of saving what little was left of the Fat Lady, "Why. Isn't. This. Opening?!" Ness grunted, "If I could just get out then I could-," he paused then face palmed, "Duh! I can teleport outside the common room."

He jumped back and took a running start, picturing himself landing outside on the eight floor entryway, "Yes!" Ness cheered as he felt the common room disappear and reappear outside the common room, "Alright time to find that painting slasher… Who is not here." Ness sighed, "No prob, I'll just look for Mr. Knife man." He walked into the stairwell and climbed down a couple flights trying to find something. Anything that would lead to the slasher's current position.

"He couldn't have just—" Ness started to say when he heard the sound of a door closing, "Yes!" Ness quietly cheered as he sneaked over to the classroom he peered inside a Charms classroom. He managed to catch a glimpse of a black creature jumping out the window.

"What…" Ness said, as the creature disappeared into the night, "Was that?" of course he got no answer since he was the only one there, but what had he seen? He had heard a _man_ and now he was seeing some four-legged black beast escaping. How was that possible?

"Hello?" a voice called, a teacher most likely, "Is anyone there?" Ness jumped and accidently teleported himself back into the common room. Which was still locked from the outside. "Great going Ness." He grumbled, "You locked yourself back inside the common room." He looked around out of boredom and thought for a bit, he could teleport back outside and join the feast but that would raise questions which Ness wasn't sure to answer.

Like how the heck he got of the common room. Sure, he could lie but that would only bring up more questions as time went on. "Well, maybe I could raid someone's trunk…" Ness mused, "Actually, that sounds like a good idea. To Harry's trunk!" he sprinted up the stairs saying, "After all, everyone's down at the feast so no one could really get upset at me and-," Ness paused spotting an old newspaper on someone's bedtable.

On it was a picture of Sirius Black ducking out of view, "Didn't… Black want to hunt Harry down or something…?" Ness vaguely recalled then he remembered something else, Mr. and Mrs. Weasly had also mentioned about how _he_ would step in if anything was wrong. That would mean that they probably knew that he was a PSI user. Right?

"First things first, focus on Boy wonder." Ness said, shoving his PSI question in the far back of his mind. "Besides, if Black really did want to kill Harry then why not attack earlier? I mean, Black could have attacked him during the Hogsmeade trip… Surrounded a bunch of people… Yea, that would _totally_ work." He sighed and headed toward his bed to think more about it.

If he was indeed trying to kill someone then hiding in their room while everyone was occupied with dinner was a sure fire way to avoid detection, but he would have ensured that he had an easy way through without alerting anyone, after all the Fat Lady could have screamed for help or the other paintings could have saw him make his way up to Gryffindor tower and alert someone.

"Maybe he wanted to poison something belonging to Harry?" Ness wondered aloud, "Actually… that could work. By the time the people found the poison Harry would be as good as dead." He thought for a bit more before he sighed and flopped on his bed, "Maybe the others have a better idea of what happened. I'll bug them in the morning." He turned on his side and thought for a bit more before a better idea struck him.

"I'll ask the stars! Maybe they know what happened! Or better yet, what to look out for" Ness realized, he scrambled out of bed and pressed his face against the cold window, trying to see the bright stars' and their omen. He studied them for a couple minutes before he spotted Mars and Mercury easily able to see despite the moon's bright light.

"Mars…and Mercury?" Ness groaned and adjusted his hat, "That just suggests a chance of reunion and the escape of a traitor!" he sighed and returned to his bed. Wondering who was going to be reunited and who was going to be killed. Maybe Professor Kale had a better idea.


	5. Chapter 5, More Bad News

The next few days were abuzz with rumors of how Black got into the castle, A Hufflepuff girl named Hannah Abbit claimed that he turned into a Flowering Scrub while other kids claimed that he Apperated inside the school or flew in.

Although Hermione had quickly killed the Apparate theories by saying that no one could teleport inside walls due to the many charms and enchantment spells placed on the wall, Ness's stomach flip-flopped when he heard that since Apprating sounded a lot like teleporting.

The Fat Lady had swiftly been replaced by a knight by the name of Sir Cadogan who changed the password practically three times a week, none of the Gryffindor's minus Ness who liked his senseless challenges for duels and his war stories, like Sir Cadogan and a couple had asked why they couldn't get someone else to do the job.

Ness already knew why though, any sane painting would had stayed far, far away from Gryffindor tower after hearing what Black did to the Fat Lady. From what he had heard Black had more or less turned the Fat Lady into a shredded mess.

"It's amazing how one small action can cause so much panic." Luna mused as the members of Boundless sat huddled on their rooftop, watching the sunset as classes ended and their break before dinner started. Selvis glared at Luna in disbelief and said, "You do realize that small action was caused by a madman who destroyed the Fat Lady's face?"

"Yes, but no one was in the common room so it was pointless since Harry was in the dining hall." Luna dreamily retorted, Ginny frowned and glanced at Ness, who was deep in thought, wondering what those omens he had seen meant, "Ness, you didn't show up to dinner, right?"

"Huh?" Ness sat up and blinked before saying, "Yea, I missed dinner and ended up waking up just as Black attacked the Fat Lady."

"You heard him?" Selvis gasped sounding amazed by Ness's luck, "Did he say why he was there?" Luna asked. Ness shook his head no, "He left right after she screamed, I tried to chase after him but all I saw was this big black creature jumping out of a classroom window."

"Hold on, you chased after him?" Ginny questioned, "Tried to." Ness corrected, "It took me a while to figure how to leave the common room since the opening was locked, so he got pretty far."

"So the door was locked, and yet you managed to get outside and then back inside before anyone noticed." Selvis said, seeing the gaping holes in Ness's story, "You're lying." Sevlis declared after a brief pause, "What really happened that night?"

"I teleported out into the hall, chased after him, missed him and went back to my room to fall back asleep." Ness said.

"Teleport? You can't teleport inside Hogwarts." Luna reminded him then she frowned and shrugged, "Well, that's Granger's been saying to everyone."

Ness shrugged and looked up at the cloudy sky, "I know, but it's so weird! I didn't have any trouble using Teleport and I even used it to go back in."

"So PSI counters magic charms." Selvis grumbled, "Peachy."

"Well, now we know another reason why PSI users were banned. Think of all the things they could do without breaking the rules." Ginny pointed out. They briefly thought about this before Selvis groaned and flopped onto his back, "Let's forget PSI for a moment, it's an annoying headache."

"Then what should we talk about?" Luna asked, "I mean, it's not like we have anything interesting besides the four horned Wigwam that let Black in."

"Speaking of Black, how did he get in the first place?" Ness asked as Selvis sat up and glared at Luna for the Wigwam comment, "I mean, Hogwarts has the best security out there, yet Black still got in."

"Here's another question, if Black is a deranged serial killer then why not kill Potter at the banquet?" Selvis asked. They gave him a look as Ginny sighed and said, "Because then he would be caught and killed."

"Yes, but would this be before or after Potter dies?" Selvis countered, "After all, if he got in _before_ dinner he could have found a good hiding spot in the shadows to blast Potter with a killing curse before anyone could react."

"But why? That seems sort of dumb." Ness said, Luna nodded in agreement, "I'd rather run and live to see another day then perform a suicide mission." Luna mused.

"Well, isn't this just that?" Selvis said with an annoyed frown, "After all, everyone knows that he's going after Potter, why bother hiding when his target is right in front of him? The very same target who killed his master, You-Know-Who?"

"Black was a Death Eater?" Ginny asked sounding horrified, Selvis shook his head no and sat up completely, "No, but the Black family line served You-Know-Who faithfully until he was killed by Potter. Or, that's what the rumors say."

"What do you mean, 'that's what the rumors say?'" Ness questioned, "They were seen killing muggles right? Faithful or not that's going to get them in trouble."

"Yes, but a lot of his followers claimed to be forced to work for him." Ginny explained, "There are still a lot of Death Eaters who may or may not be full members or just unlucky people who proved to be useful for You-Know-Who."

"Wow, Voldemort doesn't mess around." Ness whistled, "Even in death you still have to look over your shoulder."

"Speaking of looking over your shoulder." Selvis said with a sneer, "Have you seen how the teachers are treating Potter? There trailing after him like lost puppies!"

"Percy's doing it too." Ginny said with an annoyed sigh, "I caught him following Harry to a couple classes." Luna sighed and played with her hair, "Why does everything have to be so secretive? Everything would be much easier if no one had a reason to hide a secret."

"If no one had a reason to hide a secret, life would be boring." Selvis retorted, Ness grinned and teased, "So does this make you the secret finder?"

"I suppose so." Selvis said with a small smile of pride.

"Speaking of secrets, maybe we should tell Harry." Ginny suggested.

"Why on earth are we telling Perfect Potter anything?" Selvis asked.

"Well, since he's the one whose being hunted down then I think he has the right to know that he may or may not have a protector." Ginny retorted. Ness felt his heart do a quick somersault as he pictured himself looking out for Harry, trying to find the omens the stars had predicted.

"She has a point." Luna said. Selvis scowled and folded his arms, "And what if this is just what Dumbledore wants! A protector to guide his hero in his quest of something or other!"

Ness bit his lip before he sighed and stood up, "Alright, I'll tell Harry about me being his possible protector." Selvis gawked at him and tried to say something when Ness cut him off, "I mean, for now going along with Dumbledore is the better option since we have no real clue of what's going on."

"He has a point." Luna said once again, "It's like that saying, 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." Ginny halfheartedly nodded in agreement, "And we don't have a lot to on with the Dumbledore conspiracy. I mean, he's still the school's beloved principal." Selvis threw his hands up and grumbled, "I'm surrounded by idiots." Before marching toward the tower door, "See ya later!" Ness yelled as Selvis slammed the tower door.

"I don't think we'll be seeing him for a while." Luna mused, "Well, that's one less headache to worry about." Ginny muttered, she glanced at the sinking sun and grabbed her bag, "Come on, it's nearly time for dinner."

"I wonder if they'll have steak this time." Ness mused, Ginny sighed while Luna followed them toward the Great Hall, which was abuzz with the upcoming Qudditch game. Ness tried to listen since his housemates were talking about a Gryffindor vs Slytherin match and Colin was going on and on about how Harry would beat the robes off of the opposing team.

Ness payed little attention to Colin and focused on eating his steak and potatoes. Half way through dinner though, he felt someone watching him, possible inspecting him. But every time he looked up he saw no one abruptly looking away or breaking eye contact.

"Something wrong Ness?" Ness glanced at Colin who was studying him intently, "Nah, nothing's wrong." Ness lied, "Just trying to see where Ginny went."

"Oh! I think she's at the far end of the table." Colin replied pointing to Ginny's spot down the far end of the table. Ness nodded and resumed dinner.

* * *

The next week proved to be against Ness with the first Qudditch match looming closer and closer, sending the Gryffindor team captain, Wood something-Ness didn't remember- in a frenzy as they discovered they were going up against Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin, Selvis seemed perfectly okay with this especially when Ness accidentally mentioned how Harry seemed to always be with Wood or had something on his mind concerning the game.

And the omens he had seen in the stars seemed to be eating away at his mind since every time he spotted the faint glow of Mars or Mercury through the worsening weather his prediction would appear and taunt him. He would have gone to Professor Kale but the bad weather had canceled Astronomy classes for a good week. And he wasn't sure where Professor Kale's indoor office was.

"This. Is lame." Ness declared as he fruitlessly struggled with his potions essay while Ginny worked on her three-page Werewolf essay for Professor Snape who had become the substitute teacher after Lupin had mysteriously became ill. "I know." Ginny said with a brief glance outside which revealed nothing but gloomy darkness, "But once the game's over you can talk to Harry. Or you could just talk to Ron and Hermione, they could relay the message."

"I'd rather tell Harry upfront." Ness said, "that way I only have to answer one set of questions." Ginny frowned and nodded in agreement, "Hermione would probably bombard you with questions of how you knew and other things while Ron would get defensive and ask how you knew."

"I wonder if Mars and Mercury also mean bad luck." Ness grumbled changing the subject, Ginny perked up slightly and closed her book on defensive charms, "What do you mean?"

"Well, after I lost Black I spotted Mars and Mercury and got an omen stating a reunion and an escape of a traitor." Ness explained, "I've been meaning to tell Professor Kale but…"

Ginny nodded in understanding and looked around the common room which was full of other kids, even though it was a Saturday the bleary weather and pitch black corridors were enough to convince everyone to stay inside and huddle around the cozy fireplace.

"We could go looking for him." Ginny suggested, "Maybe he's hanging out at the Division tower."

"And where is that exactly?" Ness asked, rolling up his half-finished essay and sticking it in the side pocket of his backpack.

"I think Ron said it was around the East Tower."

"Shouldn't be too hard to find." Ness deiced already making his way to the portrait hole. Ginny followed him and ignored Sir Cadogan's challenge of a duel and the following ye old British insults they received for ignoring him.

"Wow…" Ness wheezed as they looked up at a old trapdoor which lead to the Division tower, "This Professor must really like a clear view of the skies." Ginny nodded in agreement and said, "I think this is Professor Trelawney's classroom."

"Ron also mentioned her?"

"Complained is more like it." Ginny muttered as she climbed up the ladder and knocked on the trap door, "One moment!" an dreamy voice yelled. The door swung open and a woman with thick owl eye glasses and wearing a shawl peered down at them, "Have the spirits summoned you?" the woman, Professor Trelawney presumably, asked.

"Not really." Ness said, "We were trying to find Professor Kale's inside office."

"Did someone call me?" Professor Kale joined Trelawney's side and smiled at Ness and Ginny, "Tired of the gloomy weather I presume?"

"That, and I predicted something, an omen of some sort." Ness explained, the two teachers exchanged looks before Professor Trelawney beckoned them up, "Explain everything over a soothing cup of tea." She ordered, although it sounded more like a suggestion from how little force she put in her voice.

Ness mentally gagged at the thought of having tea but entered the classroom, which was decorated like a casual hangout with comfy pillows, colorful drapes and an army of burning incense. Ness and Ginny seated themselves at a small oak table and politely took a cup of tea which had floating leaves in the center of the amber brown liquid.

"Now, did this omen come to you in the form of a dream or a vision?" Professor Trelawney asked, "Uh… none." Ness admitted, "I say it in the stars."

"Praise the stars!" Professor Kale exclaimed earning a slightly annoyed look from Professor Trelawney, "Right, as I was saying I saw Mercury and Mars on the day Black attacked and interpreted it as a reunion and the escape of a traitor."

"Interesting." Kale mused while Professor Trelawney took a long sip of her tea before speaking, "Black is clearly the traitor so that foretells his escape, but I can't see who would be reunited."

Ness nodded in agreement and took a careful sip of his tea, "Maybe… Maybe the rumors were true?" Professor Kale slowly said, "I heard that Black killed Harry's parents by betraying them to You-Know-Who."

"How would that be a reunion?" Ness questioned, "Well, some said that Black were the Potters' best friend until he switched sides." Professor Kale reasoned, "He might have seen Harry before stabbing them in the back."

"Yes…" Trelawney mused, "That seems to be the only reason one can make. Did you see anything else Ness?" Ness hesitated slightly before he lied, "Well, I had a dream where a black creature was chasing after Harry."

"Like a dog?" she asked leaning forward, her eyes wide with interest.

"I guess? It was shrouded in darkness." They jumped as Professor Trelawney jumped up and screamed, "The Grim! The omen of death trails after Harry!"

"Grim—you mean that dumb dog omen?" Ness asked, Professor Trelawney ignored him and fainted, narrowly missing the floor as Professor Kale caught her, "Well, she's gone." He muttered as he laid her head on a pillow, "So, any other questions?"

"Yes," Ginny said, "Why do my tea leaves look so… odd?" Ness glanced at Ginny's empty cup to see the leaves for himself, they were in the shape of a rat in motion as if it was fleeing from something.

Professor Kale studied it before he managed a conclusive, "Seems like the sign of a traitor who flees with the rats."

"Looks more like Ron's pet rat to me." Ness admitted, "That's what I was thinking." Ginny said.

"Could be that too." Professor Kale said, "After all, I work best with the stars, not tea leaves and crystal balls." He spitefully glared at a crystal ball on Professor Trelawney's desk and grumbled, "So many headaches from one measly mineral."

"At least it's pretty to look at." Ness offered, "No, no it is not." Professor Kale sullenly argued, "Especially after you've stared at it for hours on end."

Ginny warily looked at the crystal ball while Ness stood up and stretched, "Well, thanks for the help."

"No problem, it's nice to hear something about the stars instead of Harry's gruesome death." Professor Kale said he glanced at Trelawney who was still knocked out and muttered, "Honestly, I'd would have predicated something cheerful for once."

Ginny and Ness glanced at Trelawney before they headed back to their Common room, Ginny sighed and flicked her pigtail over her shoulder, "Well that was a waste of time." Ness nodded in agreement and sidestepped to avoid a Ravenclaw student from crashing into him, "At least we found her classroom, although…"

"Although what?" Ginny asked as they entered the stairwell.

"Well, Harry mentioned seeing a 'Grim' before he left for school, then I see a black creature which Trelawney proclaims as a Grim and now we see something about a rat after I predicted the reunion and escape of a traitor."

"You think they have something in common?"

"The rat? No, the dog and black creature who is seemingly appearing everywhere? Maybe. Not sure."

Ginny pursed her lips for a moment before she said, "Collywog." To Sir Caldogen, "Right-o!" he declared, swinging open to allow them entry.

"Meh, this is giving me a headache." Ness groaned, "And the upcoming Qudditch match isn't helping."

"Oh come on!" Ginny said with a bright smile, "It'll be fun! Like that Baseball thing you keep mentioning." Ness shot her a slightly irritated glare before he resumed his homework.

The next morning was even more grueling than yesterday as he, Ginny, Luna and Selvis who was 'trailing' behind them slowly made their way to the Qudditch field, they would have sprinted for the poorly covered stadium but the strong winds and the rain slapping them in the face made it impossible for anyone to run without slamming into something, or worse yet, some Slytherin.

"Wooo!" Ness cheered, his voice dripping with weariness and annoyance, " _This_ is the best day ever for a Qudditch game _,_!" Selvis flinched as the wind slammed into them in an attempt to kill their poorly built umbrellas causing Selvis to mutter, "Thank god Slytherin isn't playing. I would actually start to hate them for making me show team spirit in this horrid weather."

Luna numbly nodded in agreement her robes drenched from standing out in the rain in an attempt to find a Gillyard, "It's going to be awful." Was all she could manage before she filled into the Ravenclaw rows as the storm deiced to add loud cracks of thunder into the dreary mix.

"So let me get this straight." Ness yelled as he and Ginny found some seats near the bottom of the stadium, "People are going to fly around. On broomsticks. In this hurricane weather!?"

"Yup!" Ginny replied, lighting a flame inside a glass jar and closing it to keep them warm, "Hopefully it will be a short game! I don't think anyone could stay out here for too long!"

"Short game?" Ness questioned, "How many innings are there?" Ginny gave him a blank look, forcing him to grumpily correct himself, "How many rounds until the game ends?"

"OH! Well, the game keeps going until the Golden Snitch is caught." Ginny explained, "I've heard that one game went on for nearly a week before someone caught the snitch!" Ness looked onto the field as the teams stepped out, staggering from the strong winds and shielding their eyes from the heavy rains.

"BEST. GAME. EVER." Ness angrily declared before he huddled inside his sweaters, now wishing that he had dragged along his winter coat to survive the weather. He had gone to baseball games before and usually wore two-three sweaters with a large jacket but his outfit wasn't suited for rain. Just the angry winds of night weather and the occasional cold snap.

A loud clap of thunder drowned out the cheers as the two teams kicked off and flew into the sky, the winds threatening to slam them back into the ground as they struggled to play. It was promptly five minutes later as Madam Hooch blew her whistle signaling a time out for the Gryffindor team.

"I wonder what's going on." Ginny mused, "Maybe someone had the brains to postpone the game." Ness grumbled.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed." Ginny noted.

"Ginny, I've been to Baseball games ever since I was six." Ness deadpanned, "But never before was I forced to sit outside, in hurricane weather just to watch my favorite team attempt to duke it out in HURRICANE WEATHER."

"It's not that bad." Ginny said.

"This isn't bad?!"

"Oh! Looks like the game's resuming!" Ginny hurriedly said, forcing Ness to look back at the middle of the field as Gryffindor flew back into the sky and attempted to play once more. Thankfully, the people chasing the Snitch had the bright idea to hurry it up since he could spot two people darting around the field in a frenzy.

One of them spotted something and took off, a moment later the other Snitch catcher chased after him, racing for the small glint of gold but just as one of them was about to catch it Ness felt a wave of cold and the sudden hush as everything became dead quiet.

Ness looked around trying to figure out what was going on as he recognized the familiar cold biting into his skin, threatening to freeze him from the inside out, "Dementors." He wheezed as the cold started to fill his lungs with dry ice _"Harry!"_ Ness realized he looked back at the field and felt his heart stop as he saw a large group of Dementors the field.

Practically waiting for their prey as Harry toppled off his broom and fell toward the muddy ground with hungry guys, but before they could celebrate at their free meal Dumbledore flew onto the fields his robes angrily snapping against the harsh winds as the Headmaster waved his wand. Firing sliver strands at the Dementors to break the group apart and flee as Harry landed on the ground with a muddy thud.

The crowd erupted in screams of surprise and terror as the cold faded from their limbs and allowed them to move freely, "Hey… Ginny." Ness stammered as the two teams landed, one of them, the Seeker for team Hufflepuff looking toward Harry in shock, then at the golden snitch in his hands.

"Y-yes?" Ginny stammered, more out of fear than the cold, "Do you think… Black can control Dementors?"

"Let's hope not."

They watched as Dumbledore magically placed Harry onto a stretcher and marched toward the Hospital wing, the Gryffindor Team accompanied by Ron and Hermione trailing closely behind him.

"We should go." Ginny decided, Ness numbly nodded in agreement and followed her toward the exit, as they passed the Slytherin section which was slowly moving toward the exits in groups they overheard someone jeer, "Did you see Potter? He fainted! Right off his broomstick what a pathetic excuse for a seeker!" Ginny angrily glared at the speaker who had pale blonde hair, the boy noticed her angry look and sneered, "What's the matter Weasly? Off the comfort your coward of a _boyfriend_?"

The boy's comment earned muffled hoots and snickers as Ginny flushed in embarrassment but managed a strong retort of, "At least he didn't hide behind his 'broken' arm!"

"It's not my fault that brute of a Griffin attacked me." The boy sniffed, a girl with the world's ugliest hairstyle nodded in agreement and leaned on his good arm, stroking him like a cat Ginny scowled and opened her mouth to say something when the girl glared at Ginny and said, "Haven't you caused enough trouble? Ms. Chamber of Secrets?"

Ness stiffened as he felt Ginny tightened her grip around Ness's arm, "You know, if your arm is still damaged to the point of not being able to play." Ness said struggling to keep his tone neutral as he recalled the many rumors surrounding Hufflepuff Vs. Gryffindor, "Then maybe you should lie down. After all, this much excitement is bound to make people faint."

The boy narrowed his eyes in anger and a smug smirk crept onto his lips, "And maybe you should return to that backward country you can America."

"Ness, we should leave." Ginny muttered, her bravery fading as quickly as it appeared, Ness stepped forward and returned the boy's smirk with a genuine smile, "Well, at least my backwards country has a game that makes sense and doesn't make people faint from the cold I don't understand how anyone could sit out in this weather!"

"Faint from the cold? What are you-," before he could finish, his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed earning startled yelps from the onlookers, Ness abruptly took a step back, "Whoa! Those rumors of Europe's rain being slightly harmful were true!"

"Our water is perfectly fine Ness." Ginny shakily muttered, "Really? Must have fainted from all the excitement." Ness concluded, "Should I get a teacher or something?" the Slytherin girl who was now struggling under the boy's weight glared at him.

"I'll take that as a no." Ness guessed, "Well, hopes he doesn't catch cold!" Ginny sent Ness a look and dragged him away, "Why did you do that?!" Ginny demanded once they were far, far away from the gawking crowd who quickly switched over to laughing at the boy's fainting spell.

"Do what?" Ness questioned, careful to keep his voice low as some gossiping Ravenclaws passed by, he caught bits and pieces of Malfoy, the boy Ness had been talking to being like Harry, only with a late reaction to the Demontors.

"You used, that _thing._ " Ginny hissed, "Like you did on Selvis!" Ness frowned for a moment before it dawned on him what Ginny meant, "No I didn't, I was just giving him advice so he would leave you alone, although, I reeaaaally wish that the lighting _flashed_ so we could look strange." Ginny sent him a disapproving look as they stumbled into an empty classroom, "So you didn't use Hypnosis on Malfoy?"

"Didn't even cross my mind." Ness replied, "I just wanted him to shut up." He frowned and bit his lip, "Unless I accidentally used Psi from all the shock…"

"And you didn't notice?"

"Maybe? Remember, me no wizard so normal wizardy things leave me feeling weird."

Ginny sighed and rubbed her shoulders, "Well, at least we'll have a chance to tell Harry."

"Yea, once he's done being swarmed by everyone." Ness muttered.

"Oh! I should make him a get well card!" Ginny realized, "Be right back!" Ness watched her go before he sighed and walked back into the corridor wondering where he should go next, it wasn't too long before he felt people looking at him and deiced to head back to the common room to write some letters for his friends and family back home.

* * *

To say that Harry was having a good month would be an understatement, he felt lower than low after learning that Gryffindor had lost the game and his beloved Nimbus Two-Thousand had been brutally destroyed by the Whomping Willow into mere shards of wood.

But the best part was the haunting image of that Black dog which he swore he had spotted moments before the Dementors attacked and the upcoming before Christmas Break Hogsmeade notice, "Don't worry Harry." Hermione reassured him when they spotted the announcement, "We'll be sure to bring some Christmas treats."

"Thanks." Harry said, his voice hollow and empty, Hermione winched and tried a different tactic when Ron spotted a second announcement, "Wait, there might a chance you can come! Look!" Harry briefly scanned it a small smile forming as he re-read the warnings of Dementors patrolling Hogsmeade during the evening to tighten security.

"You could use your Father's cloak and come with us!" Ron quietly exclaimed a huge grin on his face, "But first I'll need to find a discreet way out of Hogwarts." Harry muttered, the idea already forming.

"No!" Hermione scolded snapping her fingers in front of the two boys' to return them to reality, "It's too dangerous Harry! After all, you saw that dumb black dog twice! Before and after Black attacked you!"

"I thought you didn't believe in omens." Harry recalled, Hermione flushed and snapped, "Omens or not! You should stay here where its safe!"

"What if we brought _him_ along." Ron suggested, "After all, Professor McGonagall did say that Dumbledore enrolled a special student to look after Harry, in case Black did come after him." Harry mentally face-palmed for forgetting that crucial detail and glanced at Ness Earthbound who was chatting with Ginny about something.

"She also said that no one else was supposed to know." Hermione reminded them with an angry glare

"So? He and Harry hide under the cloak and if he senses danger then he blasts the bad guy" Ron said, "I don't see the problem."

"And risk getting himself expelled!" Hermione questioned, "After all, he's a powerful wizard who probably already completed school!"

"Another good reason why he should come along." Harry muttered, stepping away from the bulletin board and picking up his school bag, "Harry, you're staying here and that's final." Hermione said, ending the conversation once and for all.

And it resumed that way up until Hogsmeade weekend rolled around, Ron had suggested talking to Ness once he was alone and away from his friends to try and convince him to go to Hogsmeade with them but Harry found that impossible to do, since Ness always seemed to disappear on the weekends with Ginny, and he wasn't sure who else was close to Ness to ask about his whereabouts.

"This is peachy." He grumbled, glaring down at a Charms essay in an attempt to work on it. His attempt failed, causing him to pack up and head back to the mostly empty Gryffindor common room to warm up. He was wrenched out of thoughts by a hasty, "Harry!" and look around, trying to figure out who was calling him, after all, everyone he knew was out at Hogsmeade, having fun and enjoying warm Butter Beers, so who was—"Over here Harry!" the voice called, Harry looked around again and spotted Fred and George waving him inside an empty classroom.

Harry warily followed them inside and leaned back when the twins offered him a blank piece of parchment, "Early merry Christmas Harry!" Fred chirped with a crooked grin, "We decided that you needed a pep in your step with this lovely little tool!" George announced, with an equally crooked grin.

"With note paper?" Harry questioned carefully taking it in case it might have been a prank, "Thanks…?" Fred and George exchanged pained looks and shook their heads, "Harry, this isn't _any_ piece of plain parchment." Fred explained, George nodded in agreement, "It's the best invention ever!" Fred turned to George and said, "Explain my good twin!"

"Of course!" George said with a mock bow before he launched into their thrilling tale, "You see, when we were still Firsts years—young, innocent and the best students around—" Harry muffled a laugh at that, he doubted that the twins were ever innocent of anything that didn't disrupt classes. George sensed this and quickly corrected himself with a smirk, "—well, more innocent than we are now—we got into a bit of trouble with Flich, apparently he didn't enjoy our wonderful present of setting off a Dungbomb in the corridor and dragged us to his office—threatened a bunch of horrible things like detention, disembowelment you know, the usual. When we spot this drawer marked _Confiscated and Highly Dangerous—"_

"Don't tell me-" Harry started a grin forming as he imaged them stealing the invention of greatness right from under Flich's nose.

"Well what would you've done?" Fred questioned, picking from where George left off, "So George created a distraction with another Dungbomb and I nicked _this_!"

"We don't reckon Flich ever figured out how to use it though." George said, "If he did then he would have abused it for much more 'proper' uses."

"So you know what it does?" Harry questioned, "Of course!" The twins chirped, "After all, this little beaut has taught us more than the teachers have!"

Harry looked at them for a full minute before he shook his head, "Now I know you're just winding me up!"

"Are not." George argued, Fred nodded in agreement and placed his wand on the parchment, "Behold! The great and minute Marauder's Map!" he cleared his thoart and recited, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." And showed it to Harry as thin lines appeared, forming a spider web then words which proudly said, " _Messrs, Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Kids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present the_ _ **Marauder's Map**_."

Harry gasped in amazement as the words faded and a map of Hogwarts, inside and out appeared in full detail, tiny ink dots were moving around with labels one of them being named Mrs. Norris who was prowling around the second floor and Peeves who was bouncing around the trophy room.

As he scanned the map he noticed passageways he'd never seen before, some of them leading right outside the school grounds which lead—

"Right into Hogsmeade." Fred said tracing one of the paths with his finger, "There are seven in all—Flich only knows about four of theses-," pointing out the four paths that Flitch knew and guarded, "—but we're pretty sure that were the only one who know about _these._ Don't bother with the one behind the fourth floor mirror, we used it up until last winter, but then it caved in—completely blocked. And we doubt anyone uses theses either since the Whomping Willow's planted right over the entrance—but this one here, we've used it loads of times-," Fred pointed to a statue right outside the classroom.

Harry recognized it as the hump backed witch who seemed to glare at everyone as they walked past it, "It leads right to the Honeydukes cellar, easy access, easy escape!"

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," George sighed, "We owe them so much!"

"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers." Fred said with a solemn tone, George nodded in agreement before he handed Harry the map briskly saying, "Don't forget to wipe it after you used it, if you don't then anyone can use it."

"Just tap it again and sat 'Mischief managed!' And it'll go blank." Fred explained, he winked and said, "See you in Honeydukes." Before they left with a satisfied smirk. Harry stood there, gawking at the map in awe as a surge of excitement appeared.

If would have been even better if the words of Mr. Weasly from the train platform hadn't floated into his mind whispering, "Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps its brain." This was probably one of those dangerous magical objects Mr. Weasly had warned him about, but…

Harry bit his lip as he thought _"I'm only going to use it to get to Honeydukes, then I'm coming straight back._ " And when the guilt filled bubble didn't go away he mentally added, _"I'll get Ness's advice on this, after all, he's supposed to protect me so if he comes along then I can't possibly be in danger from this map."_

That made the bubble pop completely and allow Harry to scan the map for Ness, who was up on the West Tower with Luna Lovegood, Ginny and a boy named Selvis Karma. He quickly made his way to the Tower, careful to avoid anyone who might question where he was going.

After all, the West Tower wasn't used for classes, just tests and the occasional star gazing which had been canceled with the chilly December weather coming. _"I wonder why Ness likes to hang out here?"_ Harry wondered as he went to open the door, before he could push it open however, the door flung open and a flustered Ginny slammed into him. Causing them to tumble down the stairs.

"Oh dear." Luna mused as Harry tried to blink the destroyed remains of his broom out his line of vision, "Really Ginny," A haughty voice sneered, "I knew that you had a crush on Potter, I didn't know you were _head over heels_ for him."

"Oh shut up…" Ginny groaned as she rolled off of Harry, "Anyone break any bones?" Ness questioned.

"I don't think so." Ginny said, "Harry, you okay?" Harry managed a weak, "Peachy." Before he sat up and shoved the map into his pocket, "What was that?" a robeless boy, Selvis, Harry presumed asked his eyes glinting with curiosity, "A piece of parchment." Harry lied as he stood up and faced Ness.

"Ness, could I talk to you about something?" Harry asked, Ness grinned and adjusted his baseball cap, "Sure! What's up?" Selvis rolled his eyes and jabbed Ness in the ribs, "I think he means alone you moron."

"Really?" the boy looked at Harry who nodded, "Yes, it's very important."

"What's so important?" Luna questioned. Airily playing with her hair, Harry hesitated when Ginny grabbed her friends' arms, "Come on, we have a paper to study on, remember?" Ness frowned as Selvis caught on and shoved Ness forward, "We'll meet you at the library Ness." Selvis said, already walking down the staircase with the girls in tow.

 _"Thank you Ginny."_ Harry thought as the trio disappeared, "Soooo…" Ness started, all of a sudden looking awkward as he played with something in his pocket, "What was that important thing you had to talk about with me?"

"Well um…" Harry's mind drew a blank, how was he supposed to tell Ness that he believed that he was an all-powerful wizard sent here to protect him from Black.

"You have no way how to phrase your question." Ness guessed as Harry trailed off, "No." Harry admitted, "That's okay," Ness said with a grin, "Since I have something to tell you!"

"Really? What is it?"

"I'm here to protect you or something." Ness bluntly explained, Harry blinked in surprise, "You know?"

"Yes and no, I overheard Mr. and Mrs Weasly arguing about it in the inn. So I'm here for some reason."

"You were there too?" Harry asked in surprise, he thought he was the only person listening that day, Ness seemed as surprise as he did since he tilted his head, "Yea, I left my baseball cap on the table and overheard them arguing, where were you?"

"Hiding in the hallway! Ron asked me to get his rat tonic for Scabbers."

"Wow… And here I thought this would be super hard to say." Ness said with a whistle, "So you know about my 'powers'?"

"Of course! Professor McGonagall explained everything to me after the first attack. About how you were a powerful wizard from America or something." Harry said, Ness flinched at the term 'wizard' but didn't deny it instead he nodded and grinned, "Yup, that's me apparently, the all-powerful wizard." Before he changed the subject, "So why are you still at the castle Harry? I thought you would be out at Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione."

Harry felt the bubble of guilt reappear as he explained why he wasn't allowed out and the gift Marauder's Map the twins had given him as an early Christmas gift. Ness's eyes widen then softened with pity when he heard about the Dursleys and how he had ended up in Diagon Ally.

"So I was hoping that you would come with me to appease Hermione." Harry finished, Ness hesitated before he straightened and gave Harry a serious look, "Alright, I'll come, but on one condition."

"Of course! What is it?"

"Have you seen anything odd? Like a black dog hanging around Hogwarts lately?"

Harry nodded, "I saw one sitting in the stands on the Gryffindor Vs Hufflepuff game, although, it might have just been my imagination since when I looked again it was gone."

"Are you sure?" Ness questioned, "I mean, it was hurricane weather that day."

"It wasn't that bad." Harry said with a frown. Ness opened his mouth then closed it, "Never mind, let's just go to Hogsmeade." Ness said.

"Right!" Harry opened up the map, "Meet me by the hump back witch, I need to get something from my trunk."

"Okaay?" Ness said, watching Harry hurry back to the Common room. After all, he couldn't sneak into Hogsmeade without his Invisibility cloak, while most people wouldn't bat and eye at Harry being there they would be sure to notice Ness, since he was the only second year who wore a baseball cap to almost all of his classes and had pitch black eyes.

When he returned to the humpback crone Ness was waiting for him, absently tossing a foam ball up into the air and catching it, "Back." Harry said, sounding a little breathless as he pulled out the map and checked it to make sure that no one was there.

"Heeey, that's the parchment you were trying to hide from Selvis." Ness realized as Harry frowned and watched his black dot walk up to the witch, tap it with his wand and say, "Dissendium."

"Hm? Oh, right, it's called the Marauder's map." Harry explained pulling out his wand and repeating the steps ink Harry had done, "Most be an important map." Ness noted as the hump slid open and revealed a dirt covered passage way.

"I'm starting to think so too." Harry said as he handed Ness his cloak, "Here, put this on, it'll make you invisible."

"Really?" Ness gingerly accepted it and disappeared underneath it, "I don't _feel_ invisible. I just feel itchy."

"Don't worry." Harry said, climbing into the passage way, "You look invisible."

"So does this mean I'm the ghost of broken rules?" Ness joked as Harry whispered, "Lumios." And lit up the passage way.

"I suppose so." Harry replied with a small smile as he walked down the earthy path.

* * *

Ness wasn't sure what to expect as he and Harry crawled out of the dirt tunnel after what felt like an hour of walking, stumbling and for some reason itchy kept that traveled up and down his spine as the cloak fluttered against him. But he wasn't expecting a bustle of activity, a crowd of students or the smell of sugar floating around the crowded store.

Ness practically glued himself to Harry's side to avoid bumping into people as he looked around the store in awe, studying every barrel fool of oddly colored sweets and prank candy. He was tempted to get some Pepper Imps to prank Jeff with but realized he couldn't since he let his money back in his dorm room.

"Over here." Harry muttered, regaining Ness's attention as they entered an aisle called (Unusual Treats) Hermione and Ron were looking at a tray of blood-flavored lollipops an item that made Ness's stomach twist into a small knot in slight horror, "Ugh, no way would Harry want one of these, they're for vampires." Hermione was saying.

 _"Vampires? Well, at least I'll have a reason to hang garlic around the house."_ Ness thought as Ron picked up a jar labeled Cockroach Cluster, "How about these?" he asked.

"Definitely not." Harry said appearing beside the two with a small frown of disgust. Ron nearly dropped the jar in surprise while Hermione squealed, "Harry! What are you doing here? How—how did you-?" although it sounded less cheerful than Ron's exclaim of, "Wow! You've learned to Apparate."

"Course we haven't." Harry said, dropping his voice to a whisper as he explained about the Map, he was about to mention that Ness was with him when Ron said in outrage, "How come Fred and George never gave it to _me!_ I'm their bloody brother!" Ness bit a laugh which quickly died down when Hermione rounded on Harry, "You aren't going to keep that, are you?" sounding like the idea of having a map that showed where everyone was at all times was ludicos, "You're going to hand that in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you Harry?"

Before Harry could argue Ness spoke up, "Are you implying that we give a map that shows everyone and thing at all times including Black be given to a teacher?" Hermione and Ron jumped and looked around, "Who said that?" Ron asked.

"The great and powerful ghost of rule breaking." Ness teased, "Here to ensure that Black doesn't murder anyone."

"Is that Ness?" Ron said in amazement, "Yup! This place is amazing by the way." Ness said with a huge grin, which quickly faltered when he felt his arms itch,

"You dragged him along as well!?" Hermione questioned, "Of course! I'm not suicidal Hermione." Harry replied sounding exasperated.

"Alright, so Ness is here as well. But what if Black used that passage way to break into Hogwarts?" Hermione asked, Ness rolled his eyes and wandered toward some hard candy labeled Sugar Teeth as Harry defended his method of getting here.

"Wizards have weird candy." Ness muttered as he glanced at a jar labeled Irritated Eyeballs which angrily darted around the store with narrowed… eyes…

"Yup, completely weird." Ness said, "Although… I wonder how they taste." He rejoined the trio as Hermione and Ron were paying for their candy and stepped outside, it had started to snow and the wind had picked up a bit. Making Ness wish that he had grabbed a coat to wear underneath Harry's cloak which was slowly making him feel like he had chicken pops.

Was the magic reacting to his Psi powers and making him feel like this? Ness could only wonder as Hermione and Ron dragged Harry around the little village before suggesting that they head to a pub called the Three Broomsticks. "There better be hot coco." Ness said as he followed them inside the tiny rustic inn that was full of heat, noise and the smell of smoke. Ness stopped a curvy woman who was serving a bunch of rowdy cloaked men, he barely heard Ron say that he was going to get drinks as he clumsily followed Harry and Hermione toward a table at the back of the room.

"Is Hogsmeade always this busy?" Ness asked in amazement, "Pretty much." Hermione said, rubbing her hands together for warmth, "It's a popular hangout for students and travelers."

"Cool!" Ness chirped, Harry nodded in agreement as Ron returned with four mugs of foaming buttery liquid, "Merry Christmas." Ron said with a grin, Ness returned it and took a sip. He gasped as he felt his body overflow with warm soothing heat that had been stolen by the cold.

"Awesome." Was all Ness could manage as Harry smiled in gratitude. "So, you guys have any Christmas plans?" Ness asked taking a another sip to savor the buttery goodness for a couple more moments, "We're staying here." Harry explained, "I'm not exactly welcomed back home for holidays while Ron and Hermione want to get in some extra studying."

"What about you?" Ron asked,

"Heading home for the holidays." Ness said with a warm smile, "I can't imagine not being back to bury my sister in the snow before Santa comes."

Hermione frowned and opened her mouth to say something when the door opened, Ness peered around Harry and frowned when he spotted a couple of the Teachers from Hogwarts and a man he didn't know, but he seemed important with his pinstriped cloak, "Quick! Under the cloak!" Hermione ordered shoving Harry under the table and pointing her wand at a tree, whispering a spell to make it move a couple inches.

Ness grabbed his and Harry's mug and joined him, throwing the itchy cloak over Harry the best he could with his free hand, "What are the teachers doing here?" Ness asked, his question was greatly ignored as sparkly turquoise heels approached the teachers' table rattling off a list of drinks.

Ness stiffen when the last drink, went to someone called 'the Minister' wasn't this the official person who banned PSI? If he and Harry were found, then it would be something much worse than a month of scrubbing the school clean.

He wanted to suggest to Harry that they head back to the castle before they were found but the bar tender, Rosmerta came back saying, "A rare visit from the great Minister himself, hopefully for a cheerful reason."

The Minister looked around, as if looking for eavesdroppers before he said in a voice as quiet as a mouse, "I wish, surely you've heard about the attack at Hogwarts this Halloween?"

The bar tender hesitantly admitted, "I did hear a rumor." And shuffle uncomfortably as if the subject made her antsy, "Did you tell the whole pub Hadrig?" Professor McGonagall asked sounding exasperated with the giant teacher beside her, as if this wasn't the first time important news reached the small village. Luckily, before she could lecture Hadrig, Rosmerta whispered, "Do you think Black's still in the area?"

"Sure of it." The Minister said sounding slightly bitter about this, perhaps his own search had come up empty, Rosmerta confirmed this thought saying, "You know the Dementors have searched the entire village twice?" sounding slightly annoyed by this fact, "It scared away my customers away… It's very bad for business, Minister."

"Rosemerta, m'dear, I don't like them anymore than you do," the Minister said, sounding more unnerved by the problem then annoyed, this struck Ness as odd since he figured that the Minister had a good handle on those monsters, "But there a necessary precaution sadly… I've just met some of them—their robes tied into knots about not being let inside the Castle grounds."

Professor McGonagall huffed in anger, sharply saying, "And that better stay that way, how are we supposed to teach with those robed horrors lurking about?"

A squeaky voice, Professor Flitwick, Ness realized said, "Hear, hear!"

"All the same, there here to protect you all from something much, much worse." The Minister said, Ness felt his heart stop momentarily and Harry stiffen beside him as the man finished, "We know what's Black's capable of…"

"I still have trouble believing it." Rosmerta admitted, sounding thoughtful, "Of all the people to go over to the Dark side-," Ness had to bite his tongue as he remembered the 'Join the dark side! We have cookies!' videos he and Jeff had stumbled upon a couple times on the internet.

"-Sirius black was the last I'd had thought… I mean, I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me what he would turn into, I would have said you had to much mead." The other teachers nodded in agreement while the Minsiter gruffly said, "You don't know the half of it, the worst he did isn't widely known."

 _"Could of fooled me."_ Ness thought as he remembered how creditable Selvis had sounded as he talked about the rumors surrounding Black.

"The worst? What can be worse than murdering all those poor people?" Rosmerta asked sounding curious.

"You say that you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta." Professor McGonagall started, "Do you remember who his best friend was?"

Rosmerta laughed as if everyone knew the answer to that, "Of course—you couldn't see one without the other back then, every Hogsmeade weekend they come in with huge grins at some prank they had performed, James Potter and Sirius Black, the double trouble duo."

Ness nearly dropped their mugs in shock as Harry drew in a sharp breath, earning a kick from Ron.

"Precisely." Professor McGonagall said, "Black and Potter, ring leaders of their little gang. Both very bright of course—yet the worst pair of troublemakers the school has ever seen."

Hadrig chuckled at the memory, "I dunno, Fred and George could give em' run fer their money."

"You'd you have thought that Black and Potter were brothers!" Professor Flitwick chimed, "Inseparable!"

"Of course they were." The Minister said, "Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was James's best man when he married Lily, and even become Harry's Godfather. The poor boy has no idea of course-it would tear him apart" Another sharp gasp from Harry as Ness resisted the urge to kick the Minister. After all, telling Harry that his Godfather was a murdering psychopath who had killed his parents seemed like an important thing to tell someone who was being hunted down.

"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" Rosmerta whispered.

"Worse than that, M'dear." The Minister said, "Not many people were aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore worked tirelessly against You-Know-Who of course, but he had a number of useful spies at his disposal. One of who tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

"How does that work?" Rosmerta asked, breathless with interest. Professor Flitwick loudly cleared his throat for attention and explained, "An immensely complex spell, involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find. Unless of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to tell the secret." Ness felt his stomach drop as he pieced together what happened.

Sirius, James's best friend ratted them out, breaking the spell and allowing You-Know-Who to murder Harry's parents, but why? Why rat out the person who had been at your side for who knows how long to Lord Voldemort? Was Black threatened into telling? Or was he really just evil and worked for the Dark Lord?

Ness pondered over these thoughts trying to find a logical answer for a simple answer, he hated to believe that a person turned evil because they felt like it. Every action had a reason and—he was abruptly pulled out his thoughts as McGonagall mentioned Dumbledore's name and how he tried to persuade James into changing Secret-Keepers.

While this seemed sensible Ness couldn't help but wonder if it was a personal reason that Dumbledore tried to persuade the Potters' come to think of it, why was Voldemort gunning for Harry to the point that even after his death his followers tried to murder the boy. It didn't make sense, was Harry part of a bigger picture? Like him and his friends during Giygais's attack?

"Filthily, stinkin' turncoat!" Hadrig practically roared snapping Ness back to reality and silencing half the pub, "Shush!" Professor McGonagall ordered but Hadrig barely heard her growling, "I met him! I musta bin he last ter see him before he killed all them people! It was me that rescued Harry from Lily an' James's house after they were killed! Jus' got him outta the ruins with a great big slash across his forehead when _he_ shows up on that flyin' motorbike. Thought he just' heard the news o' You-Know-Who's attack an' come ter see what he could do. White an' shakin' he was. An' the know what I did?" Ness winched as Hadrig finished his statement with a roar, "I COMFORTED THE MURDERING' TRATOR!"

"Hadrig please!" Professor McGonagall urged, "Keep your voice down!" as Hadrig angrily continued, "How was I ter know that he wasn' upset about Lily an' Jame? It was You-Know-Who he was worried about! An' to make matters worse he says 'Give Harry ter me Hadrig, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him—' Ha! Good thing I was acting on me orders from Dumbledore, I told him no and that Harry was supposed to go to his Aunt and Uncle's place, he argued but gave in after a bit, giving me his flying motorbike to make the journey faster, even saying that he wouldn't need anymore. I shoulda hav' known something was fishy goin' on then, he loved that bike to pieces! Fact was, it was too easy ter trace. Dumbledore knew he'd bin the Potters' Secret Keeper. Black knew he was goin' to have ter run for it that night, it was only a matter o' hours before the Ministry was after him."

Hardrig paused to catch his breath finishing his story with, "I bet if I'd given Harry to him he would have pitched him off the bike halfway out ter sea. His Bes' friends' son! But when a wizard goes over ter the Dark Side there's nothing and no one that matters to 'em anymore…"

A long silence followed, only interrupted by the jolly laughter bouncing around the pub. The thick silence was broken by Rosmerta who tried to lighten the mood by proudly saying, "But Black didn't disappear, did he? The Ministry of Magic caught up him the next day!"

"Alas, if only we had." The Minister sighed, "It wasn't us who found him, but Peter Pettigew, one of Potters' close friends. Maddden by grief no doubt and knowing that Black had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper he went after him himself."

"Peter Petigrew…" Rosmerta murmered before she remembered him, "Oh! He was that fat little boy who was always trailing behind James and Black during Hogwarts, right?"

"He worshiped those two until the end of time back then." Professor McGonagall said with a slight chuckle, "He wasn't as talented as they were, and I was often quite strict with him…" Professor McGonagal cut herself off, muffling a sniffle.

The Minster scotted closer to her chair, probably to place a comforting hand on the poor teacher while saying, "There, there, Minerva, Pettigrew died a hero's death. Some eyewitness—Muggles, of course, wiped their memories right after questioning them—told us how Pettigrew cornered Black, sobbing, 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?' and then he reached for his wand. Well, Black was quicker of course and blew the poor man to smithereens."

 _"Ow…"_ was all Ness could think as his stomach did looping loops, and people said that PSI was dangerous! At least he didn't blow people up!

Professor McGonagal who had been quietly crying blew her nose and said in a thick voice "Stupid boy… foolish boy… He was always hopeless at dueling… should have left it to the professionals."

"I tell yeh," Hadrig growled, "If I'd got to Black before little Pettigew did, I wouldn't've have messed with wands—I''ve ripped him limb—from-limb."

 _"Annnd more murderous people. Starting to think that PSI people are a lot cleaner when it comes to killing. Then again I have yet to see someone killed by PSI."_

"You don't know what you're talking about Hadrig," the Minster sharply chided, 'Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would have stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was Junior Minister in the Department of Magic Catastrophes at the time, and I was one of the first on the scene after Black murdered all those people. I—I will never forget it-I still dream about it sometimes. A crater in the middle of the street so deep that it cracked the sewer below, bodies strewn everyone like building blocks Muggles screaming in terror and Black, just standing there, laughing like a madman with Pettigrew's bloodstained robes and a few—a few fragments." The Minister was abruptly interrupted by a strangled gasp of pain and fear at the old memory.

The teachers didn't say anything, blowing their noses and wiping away tears at the horrific memories of Peter's death, "Well, there you have it Rosmerta." The Minister said, his voice thick with pain, "Black was taken away by 20 members of the MLES and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which was a comfort to his poor mother. Black's been in Azkaban ever since."

"Harry. I'm gonna…" Ness started, his voice fading as he saw Harry trembling, in shock, horror and disgust, "Come on, we're leaving." Ness stated, grabbing Harry's arm and slowly pulling him from out the table with the cloak safely covering them. "But…" Harry feebly protested as Rosmerta asked if Black was truly made, "No, buts." Ness replied darting out the door the moment it opened and into the cold winter weather, which seemed even colder than before.

"We've heard enough, and if we missed anything important then Ron and Hermione can fill us in." Ness stated marching Harry back to the candy store, "He killed them." Harry wheezed, his voice choked with pain, "He bloody killed them."

Ness hesitated, wishing he could agree with Harry but after seeing the real reason why Giygas attacked earth he couldn't help but wonder if Black truly did murder the Potters' to appease Voldemort. He finally managed to say, "He'll get what's coming to him, don't worry." Although his words felt hollow as more questions began to pop up.

Harry numbly nodded as they entered Honeydukes, "You wanna treat? I'll pretend to buy." Ness joked trying to lighten the somber mood, "I'm good." Harry mumbled.

"Sooo no bloody lollipops?" Harry gave Ness a bewildered look, "What? We could face candy loving vampires at some point." He asid with a cocky smile and a shrug of his shoulders. "Har-har." Harry said dryly, although there was a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

It stayed there for a moment as they traced their steps down the dirt tunnel, while they walked Harry asked, "Why didn't they tell me. Why?" although he seemed to be asking himself and not Ness, despite this Ness tried his best to answer the question, "Because they believe that leaving everyone in the dark solves everyone."

Harry nodded and shakily muttered, "Agreed."

* * *

 **And after what felt like three weeks Chapter Five is here! Hooray! Probably would have updated sooner but of course, the Gods of writing were against me. Also, I had waaayyy to much fun making Ness scream Hurricane weather. :3 That will probably be my catch phrase for a bit.**


	6. Chapter 6, Moral Questions

**Happy Thanksgiving everyone!**

* * *

"We will landing shortly." Ness jolted awake and rubbed his eyes as the Pilot continued speaking talking about the basic rules of landing, "Looks like I'm nearly home." Ness muttered, "Never knew that Hogwarts had connections with airports." Although considering how popular the school was it wasn't too big a surprise to receive a ticket for the closest airport to Onnet.

But when had he received the ticket? He didn't remember anyone giving it to him, then again he had been distracted by the shocking truth about Harry's parents and just how big a connection Harry had to Lord Voldemort to pay attention to anything else at the time.

He knew Harry was important but he didn't realize just _how_ important, like chosen one important. "At least this explains the omen." He grumbled as the seat-belt sign appeared and the plane began to lower in altitude.

 _"Or does it?"_ a nagging voice whispered, the same nagging voice which had been with him the entire walk back, Great Feast, Train Ride and now the final stretch of the flight. He and the voice had been arguing about Black being guilty.

It seemed so… reasonable to think that way, but Ness knew that something wasn't right. Even though Black had motive, means and clearly a way to end Harry something didn't click, which was why the voice was so nicely urging him to find answers.

 _"But where?"_ Ness thought, _"After all, the Minister was there. He saw what happened!"_

 _"Or did he? He arrived at the scene, but he didn't see what happened now did he?"_ Ness hesitated as the plane landed and people started to get off, he followed them to the exit and wound up at a luggage section, where his suitcase was, spinning around in slow circles on the automated track. Sort of like his mind. Only a lot slower.

He lugged it off the metal conveyor belt and headed for the taxi area. Hoping that his parents were there to pick him up. They weren't, forcing Ness to sit outside in the winter cold with his thoughts to keep him company.

 _"Alright, so Black is a madman with a lot of power apparently. Why not kill Harry and be done with it_?" Ness questioned, _"Maybe he isn't trying to kill Harry."_ The voice reasoned, _"Maybe he wants something else?"_

 _"Like what? His flying bike?"_

 _"Maybe."_

Ness sighed and adjusted his baseball cap, hoping that would convince the voice to agree with him. He knew it was fruitless since he had a sinking feeling in his stomach. But what was missing? As he mentioned before Black had all three reasons to go after Harry, so why hadn't he risk everything? After all, he didn't hesitate to break into the castle, or escape from Land of the Dementors.

 _"But why would he willingly let Hadrig go with Harry? Black could have murdered him the moment he bumped into him and then fled."_ Ness thought as a car pulled up and honked a couple times, pulling Ness from his thoughts, "Geez! We were afraid you froze to death!" his father joked as Ness put his trunk in the back of their battered Sedan and climbed into the back seat.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought." Ness said, Tracey gasped in fake surprise and playfully pushed Ness, "You have a brain?"

"Har-har." Ness retorted pushing her back, "Very funny." Their parents rolled their eyes as Ness and Tracey got into a playful argument over who had a brain, "So brains aside, how's school?" his mother asked, "It seems like you've had an exciting time so far."

"Exciting is an understatement." Ness grumbled, "I'm stuck playing body guard to Harry Potter, a boy whose were pretty much parents murdered by their best friends."

"And you have to take out the bad guys?" Tracey asked.

"I don't know. I can't even convince myself that he _is_ a bad guy!"

"What do you mean?" his father asked, "Is he like Giygas? Who was merely exacting revenge for feeling betrayed?"

"I don't know! But earlier this year, he breaks in, destroys a painting and then leaves, while everyone was downstairs at dinner." Ness explained, "He could has easily broken into the Common room since he went to school here but he just books it! Not to mention that there's this black dog that's hanging around for no reason."

"Well, what did he do? How did he murder his friends?" his mother asked now sounding concerned.

"Basically, he used to be a good guy, kept a magical secret to keep his best friend safe switched sides, told his new evil master where they were at, came back to his now destroyed friends' house to get baby Harry, failed, gave Hadrig this flying bike and then proceed to brutally murder another good friend of his before they hauled him off to jail."

"And the victims used to be BBF's?" Tracey questioned, "Thicker than glue." Ness deadpanned, "At first, when I heard he was Harry's godfather and insane, I thought he was going after Harry because of Godfather status but now…"

"Now you aren't sure since he sounds like a wack job." His father finished.

"Yes! It just… doesn't make sense, and I can't figure out how to make it make sense." Ness groaned. Tracey patted his shoulder, "Don't worry, you're figure something out."

"Is that before or after Harry murders Black?" Ness questioned, "Since he isn't exactly taking the news well."

"Hopefully before." His mother murmured as his father changed the topic, asking about Selvis and Ginny. After a while they started talking about how Onett was and about King, his pet dog who had joined his adventure for a bit then decided to stay home after a bit.

It wasn't too long until they pulled off the highway and into Onett, which was decorated to the T with Christmas decorations, "I see Captain Strong still loves his police decorations." Ness mused as they passed the Police Station which was covered in red and blue lights.

"He never gives it a rest." His father said with a slight chuckle, "Although that's probably a good thing."

"King!" Ness cheered as they pulled into the driveway and were greeted by King who happily flattened Ness in the snow, "Hey buddy! Nice to see you again!"

 _"Are you actually going to be home for good?"_

Ness froze and frowned at King who was still panting, _"Is that a no? It's a no, isn't it?"_

"Uh… Yea, I'm just staying for Winter break." King whined and rolled off him, _"One of these days I'll understand why you decided to go to a boarding school."_ Ness shrugged and looked at Tracey who was eagerly watching them, "What's King saying?"

"He's asking if I'm staying home for good." Ness repeated, trying to figure out why King was suddenly speaking to him, was he able to do that before or-, "Come on! It's late!" his mother yelled.

"Right!" Ness opened the trunk and grabbed his suitcase, wincing as one of the wheels made an odd cracking sound as it bounced off the small patch of ice, "I forgot Onett had odd winters." Ness muttered as he dragged his suitcase inside.

 _"You always forget."_ King reminded him, "No I don't!"

 _"Pretty sure you do."_

"I'm heading to bed." Ness announced, "Me too!" Tracey chirped, although this was probably because she wanted to try and see if Santa made early deliveries before Christmas. Ness doubted that Santa actually did, but he didn't tell Tracey this. After all, it was hilarious to see her camped out in the living room with King acting like a pillow.

"I need some sleep too." His dad yawned, "Driving for practically eight hours can take a lot out of ya." His mom laughed and playfully teased, "Says the man who works almost nine hours a day."

Ness rolled his eyes as he climbed up the stairs toward his room, hearing his dad's usual remark of, "Well someone has to pay the bills." King joined him on the bed and stretched saying, _"Feels nice to have my bed buddy back."_

"Since when did we become bed buddies?" Ness asked as he grabbed a clean pair of pajamas and get dressed, "Actually, when did you learn Telepathy?" King cocked his head and whined, _"What are you talking about? I've been able to speak to you ever since that Giygas guy showed up. Heck! You've been able to hear every animal since he showed up!"_

"I have?" Ness frowned and tossed his hat on his bedside table, "Then why couldn't I talk to the school owls?"

 _"Probably because their stuck up jerks."_ King grumbled, _"I chased one owl. ONE! And it had the nerve to call me an old coot. Birdbrain."_

Ness smothered a laugh and turned off the lights, "You aren't an old coot King, there just jelly since you beat up wild animals."

 _"A, wild animal. You're quick to forget that I bailed after that alien showed up."_

"You did a lot better than most animals. And Porky."

 _"Oh yea! Haven't seen him in a while. Weird."_

Ness bit his lip since he vaguely knew of Porky's disappearance, but didn't say anything. Instead he pulled the cover over his head and fell asleep. He was rudely awaken by King who panted, _"Mom made bacon and pancakes!"_ and patiently waited as Ness rolled out of bed groaning, "School break = sleeping in King."

 _"Not if there's bacon involved."_

"Of course not." Ness grumbled, "Because bacon is all mighty."

 _"See! You understand!"_

"That was sarcasm King! Sarcasm!"

 _"You still understood my point."_

Ness rolled his eyes and headed downstairs, his mom and Tracey were chatting while his dad was nowhere to be seen, probably sleeping in like Ness wanted to do.

"Good morning!" his mom chirped, placing a plate of piping hot pancakes and bacon onto the morning, "Boo." Ness yawned as he grabbed a plate and a couple pancakes, Tracey giggled and scratched King behind the ears, "I'm guessing King woke you up?"

"All for bacon." Ness said, tossing King a piece before he drowned his breakfast in syrup, _"Bacon, is all mighty."_ King protested as he happily gulped down his treat, "No, steak, is all mighty." Ness argued earning an eye roll from his mother.

"Well whatever meat is all mighty, it will have to wait." His mom said as she went to wake up her husband, "Wanna build an army of snowmen after breakfast?" Tracey asked, "Only if I get to cream you in a snowball fight to the death." Ness countered with a smirk.

"You're on!"

And so, after breakfast they rushed outside with King trailing behind them, offering to be ref even though they knew that King was just going to sit in the middle of the yard and bark at them.

"Eat snow!" Ness yelled, popping up from behind his hastily built snow fort long enough to hurl a snowball at his sister, Tracey ducked and retorted, "Not unless you eat it first!" and hit him square in the chest, "Fool! I have a secret weapon!" Ness yelped as he scrambled to make another snowball.

"Is it giving up?"

"No, it's tackling your sister into the snow!" Tracey screamed as Ness bolted from around his fort, faked a throw and slammed into Tracey who slipped and fell, "Surrender!" Ness commanded, Tracey formed a ball of snow and threw it upward, causing it to land on Ness's hat, "Never!" Tracey squealed as Ness jumped up and cleaned his hat off yelling, "Cheater!" Tracey merely stuck her tongue out as King barked _"I claim fair goal!"_

"There are no goals in Snowball war, King!" Ness yelled as he chased after his little sister, _"Really? Then what game has goals?"_

"Soccer, Football, Hockey," Ness rattled off as he pivoted and grabbed a small pile of snow, "And hitting little sisters in the back of the head!" Tracey yelped and hastily scooped some snow into her hand as Ness threw his mess of a snowball, "Ha! Ya missed!" Tracey playfully jeered. She quickly stopped jeering when her own snowball missed.

"Want some hot coco?" Tracey asked after they proceed to miss hitting each other for a bit. "Heck yea!" Ness cheered, they scrambled back inside the house and sat by the fireplace, "You guys done murdering each other already?" their dad asked with a sly smirk.

"I won." Ness and Tracey said before shooting each other a smirk.

"Rigghhhht." Was their parents reply, knowing full well that the battle to the death had been a draw. "So death battles aside, you guys ready to make snowflakes!"

"Who wouldn't be?" Ness joked as his mom pulled a basket of recycled paper from underneath the couch and placed it in the middle of the room. Making snowflakes was sort of a tradition for the Earthbound family, they would collect junk pieces of paper like old work reports, messed up school reports and newspaper and cut them into snowflakes.

Then they would hang them in the window and read aloud the cut of sentences that the snowflakes had to offer. They chatted while they worked, joked about crazy headmasters and bosses. His father had a hilarious story where his boss got locked in a closet during a board meeting and his secretory had to pose as him, it worked but after that incident the secretory had become the 'boss' whenever important people came for board meetings.

"Poor Cindy got so flustered when Joe Miki sat up and said 'working on that project boss!' when she walked past his desk to give something to Mr. McCole." His dad laughed.

"Hopefully you haven't been giving her too hard a time." His mom said, giving him a stern glare, Ness and Tracey fought back a laugh as their dad's laughter quickly died away and was replaced with a sheepish smile.

 _"I think that's a yes."_ King guessed. Causing Ness to crack up and translate what King had said.

* * *

Before Ness knew it, Christmas Break was over and he was heading back to Hogwarts on the train with a handmade sweater from his Mother, a book of reminders from Tracey and a new winter sports hat from his Father. Paula had showed up right before he left of course, she lived a town over and could easily come for visits when the weather wasn't bad.

But she was acting weird when she came to bid Ness goodbye and give him her Christmas gift. Her smile seemed shy and her cheeks were bright pink, which was odd since she didn't seem like the shy type of girl, just humble, quiet and surprisingly violent, Ness couldn't forget that trait of Paula, she could hit home runs with that frying pan of hers and she had with a couple PSI controlled objects they had fought against.

Her gift to him seemed odd as well, she had baked him a couple cookies that were shaped like goofy Christmas trees and snowballs, all decorated with homemade frosting. While that seemed, normal Ness couldn't help but feel embarrassed, which was dumb since Paula was a good friend who was an excellent cook.

He didn't have long to ponder on that thought since his compartment door suddenly opened and Selvis scrambled inside panting, "Gits! All of em!"

"Merry late Christmas Selvis!" Ness chirped, giving Selvis a heart attack, "Good god!" Selvis yelped before he hastily scowled and snapped, "Why are you so happy?! Did your girlfriend bake those treats or something?"

Ness felt his cheeks redden and hastily retorted, "A friend made them for me." Selvis frowned then smirked, "A female friend?"

"Yea, Paula."

Selvis snickered and plucked a cookie out of the box, "Is she a close friend of yours?"

"Yea, we met during my quest to save the world."

"Is she pretty?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Oh nothing lover boy."

Ness bit his tongue in surprise and glared at Selvis who happily bit off the treetop of a pine tree, "So how was your holiday break?"

"Boring as always." Selvis said, "Mum invited friends over for dinner, Dad made a fool of himself and the House elf got drunk. As usual."

"Elves can get drunk?" Ness questioned, "How is that possible? I thought that Dwarves were the drunken party." Selvis rolled his eyes and sat down, "I keep forgetting that you're practically a Muggle, but no, Tipsy is prone for getting drunk during the holidays since we get so many wine bottles from our relatives in France." Selvis pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes and scowled, "Sometimes we have to store the excess in her room and she thinks it's her property or something dumb, the git."

"Have you ever considered storing the wine away from Tipsy?"

"Tried it, but she still manages to get drunk. Anyway, where did you and Potter go?"

Ness bit his lip before he sighed and looked Selvis right in the eye, "Promise not to tell your Housemates?" Selvis glanced at the door and then back at Ness, a wry smile and a glint of mischief in his eyes, "Must be veeerrrry important if you don't want me squealing."

"It concerns Potter's parents Selvis." Ness deadpanned, "And how they really died." Selvis's eyes widen and he leaned forward, "I won't tell, cross my heart and swear to die!"

Ness nodded and explained what had happened and where he went, a couple times Selvis with stiffen with envy and grumble about not having his own cloak of invisibility or about being able to sneak into Honeydukes but he stayed silent when Ness retold what he had heard the teachers say.

"Blimey…" Selvis whistled, "No wonder Potter looked out of it that day, I thought his owl died or something dumb."

"It was awful." Ness said, "The Minister sounded so disheartened, even scared of that day."

"Who wouldn't? If I stumbled upon Black on his killing spree I would have fainted right then and there."

"Yea…" Ness agreed, before he sighed and adjusted his hat, "Why he do it though? He and James sounded like best friends. It doesn't make sense as to why he suddenly back stabs the man who treated him like a brother." Selvis snorted in disbelief and sneered, "You're joking, who wouldn't do that? If I had to choose between my best friend and life, I pick life."

"Says the snake." Ness retorted, earning a cold glare, "It makes sense as to why _you_ join up, but why would a troublemaker who happily break the rules with little concern suddenly switch sides? Wouldn't being Voldemort's spy-," Selvis flinched at the dark lord's name but didn't say anything, "be thrilling enough? And why give up his motorbike to Hadrig if he wanted to kill Harry?"

"Oh, I dunno, maybe Black didn't know that Harry was the boy who so nicely murdered his master."

"But that was the reason _why_ Black rushed over there as fast as he did, remember?"

Selvis threw his hands up and snapped, "Do you want to protect Harry or not?"

"I do but-,"

"Then why the heck are you trying to figure out the twisted mind that is Black's?! Just accept that he's a bad person and move on!" Selvis finished, Ness glanced down at his shoes and silently thought _"Every action has a reason, so what was Black's?"_

"This is going to eat away until you figure it out." Selvis realized with a groan, "Which means you're going to bugging me and the others until you find the answer."

"He has to have a reason for suddenly switching sides Selvis." Ness protested, "Every action has a reason."

"I bet Giygas didn't." Selvis protested.

"He did, he was exacting his revenge for being used by human scientists since he was the first being to wield PSI at the time." Ness explained, "He probably would have destroyed us if Paula didn't figure out a way to jog his memory of the good times he had with humans."

Selvis threw his hands up in the air and went to change into his robes, Ness did the same and resumed pondering at the buzzing question which he had so nicely forgotten. His question became even louder when he spotted a gloomy Harry as he walked into Gryffindor tower's common room, was he still upset over what happened? Probably, he would be down in the dumps if learned how his parents were killed. But that didn't explain the angry looks Ron was giving Hermione who seemed quiet intent on finishing a bulky book in her hands.

 _"Whatever, I'll try and talk to Harry in the morning."_ Of course, he couldn't since every break he got the next day was bombarded by Ginny and Luna who both wanted to know what happened that day before break started. And Ness couldn't really explain it at the time since there were a bunch of people around and their hangout spot had been buried under fresh piles of snow.

"We're going to need a new hangout." Ness grumbled as he and Ginny climbed up the tower toward the common room, "Maybe we could use an empty classroom?" Ginny suggested.

"And risk getting caught by a teacher? Heck no."

"Maybe Selvis has an idea of where to go." Ginny hesitantly suggested, "Hopefully." Ness said, "If not then we're going to have to use Owl mail."

"Oh! Maybe we could use the Owlery room."

"I dunno. I don't think people would appreciate a bunch of second years lurking around the owls." Ness said, Ginny sighed and said, "Bloodied Blade." To Sir Caldogen who nodded in satisfaction. "Oh! Speaking of owls, guess what?"

"What?" Ginny asked as she dumped her bag onto a chair and sat down, "I can hear animals' thoughts." Ness whispered, he sat down beside Ginny and pulled out his latest Potions homework, "You can?" Ginny glanced at Crookshankes who seemed intent on napping. "Think you can do it on Crookshankes?"

"I dunno… King reminded me of telepathy when I went home but I couldn't use it on the owls. Too much magic or something." Ness studied Crookshankes and shrugged, "It's worth a try." He stood and went to pet the cat when Ron exclaimed, "There he is!" causing him to pause and say "Oh, hey Harry, Ron. What's up?"

"You know how to find jinxes in brooms, right Ness?" Ron asked looking completely breathless even though he and Harry had walked over from the other side of the room to reach him, "People jinx brooms?" Ness questioned, he looked at Ginny who was sighing, "I never knew that people hated to sweep the floor to the point of jinxing a broom."

"He means cursing it Ness." Ginny explained, "Making it so that the rider could get killed or have trouble flying it."

"Ohhh… That makes much more sense."

"So you can't do it?" Harry asked, looking crestfallen, Ness shook his head no, "Why do you ask? Oh! Did you're new broom come in or something?"

"Yea." Ron said glumly, lowering his voice a little, "The best broom of all of Britain to be exact." Harry nodded in agreement, "Someone sent me a er, what Ron said and Hermione told a teacher about, thinking it might be cursed."

"Do you know who sent it to you?" Ness asked.

"No, that's why Hermione told, it just came in the mail with no return addresses."

"Oh… Any chance you can get it back?"

"Hopefully." Harry said while Ron grumbled, "Not likely." And glared at Hermione, who was reading a book, as usual. "Don't worry Harry." Ginny said with a reassuring smile, "I'm sure you'll get the broom back before the next game."

Harry nodded in agreement, although he still seemed depressed. Ness sort of wanted to cheer him up but couldn't since he still considered brooms to be a cleaning tool, not a piece of equipment you could use.

"Well, I'm going to bed, see you guys in the morning." Ness said, already making his way up to his dorm bed. Thoughts about Black being innocent once again pestering him as he crawled into bed and turned off his light.

"This is going to drive me crazy." Ness groaned as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

And it did, for the next week the scale of Black being innocent or a complete nut job went up and down, and sometimes in circles whenever he thought about it during Charms or Transfiguration, the only thing that seemed to distract him was Selvis's good news, which he gleefully delivered by shoving Ness to the side as they left potions, dropping a letter into his bag as he headed to his next class.

"I swear, Selvis enjoys his new note method a bit too much." Ginny grumbled, rubbing her elbow and glaring at the hastily written letter in her hand, "Well, at least he found a new meeting spot." Ness offered, although he to wished that Selvis had just sent one of the owls, or better yet just slip into their bags _without_ sending them crashing into the stone floor.

"I hope Selvis is right about no one using the East wing tower." Ginny grumbled, Ness coughed and ducked under a giant cobweb, "I think the fact that the spider apocalypse happened here is a big clue about people using the tower."

"Ron would hate it." Ginny said ducking around another giant cobweb and climbing up a rickety ladder.

"Not a fan of spiders?"

"Hates them, especially after Fred and George turned one of his teddy bears into a giant one." Ginny explained. Ness cringed in sympathy and followed Ginny into the abandoned classroom, "Thank god you're here!" Selvis exclaimed looking extremely annoyed,

"Hello Ginny, Ness." Luna greeted, she was making dust angles on the floor while Selvis sat cross legged on an old desk, "She's been doing that for at least ten minutes!" Selvis complained as Ginny placed her bag by the trapdoor, "Make her stop!"

"I'm just chasing away the dust bunnies." Luna explained, "Really? Huh…" Ness studied an empty patch of dust then looked at Selvis who was glaring at him, "Don't even think about it Earthbound." Selvis hissed.

"Too late!" Ness chirped happily flopping in the dust and copying Luna, "Whhhhhy!?" Selvis whined while Ginny giggled, "That does seem fun."

"Don't you DARE copy them Weasly." Selvis threatened, "Or else!"

"Or else what?" Ginny countered, "You'll tell my older brothers that I'm hanging out with a Slytherin?"

"No! I'll… I'll figure something out!" Selvis snapped, "After all, you aren't exactly a goodie two shoes!"

"So who wants to know where I went with Harry Christmas weekend?" Ness asked hoping to avoid another fight between Selvis and Ginny, "I do." Luna said, sitting up and studying Ness with her usual dreamy smile, "I already know." Selvis said smugly earning a glare from Ginny.

"So? Where did you and Harry disappear to?" Ginny asked, "To Hogsmeade." Ness replied before he retold what he and Harry had heard and his thoughts on Black being a murderer.

"I still think he's off his rocker." Selvis huffed while Ginny hesitated and said, "I dunno Ness, he _did_ murder Peter Petigrew right in front of everyone's eyes. And my Dad was talking about how dangerous Black was."

"But what if the Ministry was lying?" Luna offered, earning strange looks from everyone, "After all, the only witnesses were a couple mind wiped muggles and Fudge himself."

"Who is Fudge?" Ness asked, "And why is he named after candy?"

"The minister." Ginny explained, "His full name is Cornelius Fudge."

"As I was saying." Luna said, "Black switching sides isn't normal, I bet some horrific experiment happened and Black was a victim, turning into a completely different person until Petigrew was murdered."

"And just what was this horrific experiment?" Selvis questioned, "Split Personality-idous?"

"No, it was a Devil toad." Luna explained, "They take over the victim's mind and body and turn them into a completely different person, the only way to reserve the change is to remind them of happy memories or use spello tape and remove it by force."

Selvis face palmed while Ness mused, "That could work, after all, Black was good friends with Petigrew."

"I think Dad would have informed us of evil frogs." Ginny said with a thoughtful frown, "But what if he didn't know?" Luna countered, "I mean, it was probably a high-level clearance item."

"Can we _please_ stop talking about evil frogs? Better yet, let's use logic." Selvis pleaded, "Like maybe Black deiced that the good guys were fighting a losing battle switched sides until You-know-who fell and then switched sides again."

"If he did that then why didn't he willingly let Petigrew turn him in?" Ness argued, "Why go into custody _after_ he murdered Petigrew?"

"Maybe he did go into custody, but Fudge discovered a horrible secret about Petigrew and blasted him right on the spot!" Luna theorized.

"Luna, they saw Black, laughing like a madman, in front of a creator." Selvis deadpanned, "I don't think Fudge could pull the wool over that many wizards' eyes despite being the first one there."

"Oh! Maybe Fudge was against Dumbledore and plotted with Black without knowing that he had switched sides and-," Ginny faltered then sighed, "No, that doesn't make sense."

"Hold on, Dumbledore didn't trust Black to be Potters' secret keeper." Luna recalled, "Yes, we know this Luna." Selvis dryly retorted, "Anything else you'd like to revise for the class?"

"Well, Dumbledore didn't trust Black, as if he knew that Black was going to switch sides or something." Luna continued, "Maybe, Dumbledore used a spell to force Black into betraying James, breaking his mind in the process."

"But why do it?" Ness asked, "Did he do it because Harry was the holy grail or something and needed hardship in his life for some important role?"

"Well, Dumbledore _is_ off his rocker." Selvis grumbled, "Maybe we should start from the beginning." Ginny suggested, heading over to the grim covered chalkboard and writing an outline.

"Oh! Like a Who, what, where, how, when chart!" Ness realized, Selvis shrugged indifferently about the idea while Luna chirped, "Sounds like a plan."

"So first up. What, is Black after." Ginny started, "Harry Potter." Selvis said, "Harry Potter with a question mark." Ness offered, "Since he missed his chance for brutal revenge at the Halloween Dinner."

"I forgot we were still debating about that." Selvis grumbled while Ginny asked, "How? How did Black get in?"

"He turned into a plant." Luna offered while Selvis smirked and said, "He murdered the Dementors at the front gate."

"Now you sound crazy." Ness teased earning a glare from Selvis, "Maybe he had a helper?" Ness offered, "I mean, someone who might own a black dog?"

"I think Hadrig owns a dog…" Ginny recalled.

"But why would Hadrig be an accomplish to the person he wants to tear limb from limb?" Selvis questioned, "Change of heart or not, Hadrig would still probably kill him."

Ness frowned and thought about other ways to get into the castle, "Oh! Maybe he used a secret passageway or something, after all he and James were renowned trouble makers."

"Didn't Granger so nicely rule that idea out?" Selvis asked before he haughtily said, "Besides, the paths he could have used as a student could have been destroyed."

"I still think he turned into a plant." Luna murmured. "Black didn't turn into a bloody plant!" Selvis snapped, "He probably did something sensible!"

"Like fly through a window!" Ness joked, Selvis threw his hands up in disgust while Ginny stifled a laugh, "Jokes aside, he could have done it."

"I give up, what's the next question." Selvis asked, "Well, there's why and when, but when doesn't make sense since Black is still on the prowl and the why's another minefield of questions."

"Why are there so many questions!?" Selvis demanded, "Why can't we just accept that Black is a nutjob!?"

"Because that would be like us accepting that you're a jerk based on your house." Ness calmly countered, Selvis opened his mouth, closed it, then slumped his shoulders in defeat while Ginny and Luna shared thoughtful looks.

No one said anything for a moment before Selvis grumpily said, "So what are the odds of Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw?"

"Well, it depends on there being a freaking hurricane during the match." Ness grumbled, bitterly remembering Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor. "Well you drop it already?" Ginny sighed, "It wasn't that bad!"

"It was awful," Selvis said, "That's why we did the smart thing and waited for better weather conditions."

"Ah-ha! So Slytherin did chicken out!" Ginny said with a triumphant smile.

"Anyone with a brain would have stay out of that dreadful match!" Selvis retorted while Ness argued, "Ginny, no sane human would play during a hurricane or a rainstorm!"

"See! Even those filthy muggles have some sense!"

"I thought it was because the ground got infested with mud terminates." Luna mused, "They don't exist!" Selvis snapped while Ginny said, "I thought muggle sports were vastly different than Qudditch."

"They are, since they don't have people flying on brooms." Ness said, "Or during hurricanes."

"You aren't going to drop that anytime soon. Are you?"

"Nope, since that was totally a hurricane."

Selvis nodded in agreement while Luna merely said, "the weather report indicate a sunny match up, so we'll only have to worry about how badly the teams will lose by."

"I hope Gryffindor gets crushed." Selvis said, rubbing his hands together, Ginny rolled her eyes while Ness said, "And while you guys argue about that, I'm going to remember who won the World champion finals."

"I think it was England, Teaster Toranado." Luna mused.

"I meant baseball Luna."

"Oh. Who won then?"

"Who cares about Baseball?" Selvis questioned, "Why anyone runs around in a diamond is beyond me."

"Alright, you wizards seriously need to learn about something other than suicide sports." Ness declared standing up and picking up a piece of chalk. Ginny buried her head in her hands while Luna perked up. Selvis glanced at Ginny and groaned, "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Noooo…" Ginny groaned as Ness started on the basics of Baseball. Ness managed to explain about how bases worked when Luna interrupted, asking about how Muggles tamed bats while Selvis demanded that they talk about more sensible sports earning a blunt answer about how Baseball was an American favorite and safer than most sports Ness had seen.

Ginny merely laughed at Selvis's annoyed outbursts, Luna's random questions and at how exasperated Ness was at explaining the rules. She laughed even harder when Selvis dug up an old chess board and challenged Ness to a game. Then got upset when he noticed that his queen was ignoring every command since Ness had used Paralysis beta on it to make the game entertaining.

"Cheater!" Selvis spluttered as he poked and prodded at the frozen piece, "Release my queen at once!"

"Or, you could just move it." Ness suggested with a smirk, "Insufferable little-," Selvis started, when Ness glanced out the window, "Oh geez! It's past curfew!"

"It is?" Luna yawned, she and Ginny had been playing a game of magical marbles and talking about boys or something, "I didn't even notice."

"Bugger, if Flich finds us we're dead." Ginny grumbled.

"That is, if he can find us." Selvis remarked, "I've never been caught by that bumbling caretaker."

"I shall take your word for it." Ness noted, "Now if you excuse us, the less sneaky people shall head back to their common rooms."

"Hmm… I bet Ravenclaw will win." Luan mused as she climbed down the ladder, "Nut-job." Selvis muttered as he followed suit. Ness and Ginny followed them and parted at the staircase, Selvis heading toward the basement, Luna toward the towers and them to the common room.

"Hopefully some good news will show up." Ness muttered as he headed toward his warm bed and crashed, he yawned and rolled onto his side, "Like something making logical sense."

But of course, more bad luck came his way, or rather Ron's way since a day before upcoming Ravenclaw match Ron's rat, Scabbers, went missing, Ness was chilling in the common room watching Harry be the center of attention as they marveled over his broom while he and Hermione chatted about classes.

"I didn't know Harry had a Firebolt!" Ginny said in awe before she joined the crowd, "And I never knew you were a broom nut." Ness muttered, waving his wand in a slow circle as he tried to mentally move a book away from Hermione, he planned to make it look like a ghost's doing but so far, all he was doing as making it inch toward the edge of the table.

He had nearly pushed it off the edge completely when a strangled scream made everyone stop and look toward the Boys' dormitory in surprise. And then horror as Ron tumbled out of the stairwell carrying red stained bed-sheets which he promptly shoved in Hermione's face, causing her to lean back in surprise.

"LOOK!" he yelled, looking bewildered and upset, "LOOK!"

"What?" Hermione stammered as Ness edged closer, a sinking feeling in his stomach, "SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!" Ron babbled, "BLOOD! IT'S HIS BLOOD AND HE'S GONE!"

A ripple of sharp gasps filled the room as Ron frantically continued, "THE ONLY THING LEFT OF HIM IS-," Ron cut off and hurled something into Hermione's homework, shaking.

Ness leaned forward as Harry and Hermione paled at the long ginger hairs covering a weird spiky shape. Crookshanks, had eaten Scabbers, or, attempted to anyway. Ness looked at the mangy cat who didn't seem to have a care in the world as Ron ripped into Hermione, yelling about how she never cared about Scabbers or heeded his warnings about keeping that 'monster' away from his beloved pet.

Ness felt the sudden urge to leave the common room as Hermione shook off her surprised stupor and retorted that he had no proof about Crookshanks eating Scabbers, and angrily whirled on Ness when he squeaked, "I think the fact that cats hunt rats for food is proof enough." And then on Harry when he tried to defuse the argument.

He failed, miserably and ended up sending Ron storming back to the dormitory room and Hermione toward the library for some 'light' reading.

"Oh dear…" Ginny murmured, sensing the storm to come. And it did come, Ness felt a wave of uneasy whenever he spotted Hermione, who was angrily cooped up in the library muttering about how everything was seemly her fault and at Ron's sullen mood. Ness couldn't blame Ron, if he found out that King had been murdered by someone's pet he would be a mess.

He wanted to comfort them, or help Harry out who was trying to rebuild the bridge between Ron and Hermione but he couldn't, "This, is ridiculous." Selvis declared as Ness made a dusty smiley face on an old desk, "It wasn't even _your_ rat for crying out loud! Just get over it!"

"You should have seen it Selvis." Ginny snapped, she too, was shaken by Scabbers' disappearance and sometimes would burst into tears despite never really liking the rat, "There was blood! And a toe from Scabbers! I know cats are hunters but still-," she abruptly cut off and buried her face in her hands.

"There, there." Luna soothed, "Scabbers is just helping the Rat rebellion." Selvis threw his hands up in the and stroked Kir's feathers. "A-anyway, I'm pretty sure that dumb rat is in a better place." Selvis sniffed, this only caused Ginny to cry harder and earn a weary glare from Ness.

"How about we talk about something cheerful." Ness suggested, "Like, why did you bring the bird that hates my guts up to the secret clubhouse?"

Selvis huffed and folded his arms, "To see if you really could talk to animals." He said, "And this would prove…?"

"I don't know!" Selvis snapped, "I just wanted to see it for myself!" Ness sighed and held his hands up, "Alright, I'll try, but if he tries to maul me, I'm blasting him with Paralysis." He edged closer to Selvis's 'throne' and smiled at Kir, "Hey Kir! Anything interesting going on?" Kir narrowed his eyes and looked away.

"Hear anything?" Luna asked, Ness shook his head no, "Maybe I need to focus for a bit…" he muttered, picturing what Kir's inner thoughts might look like, "Ughhh… I knew this was a bad idea." Selvis grumbled.

 _"F-final…ly som…ething… we agree on."_ A haughty yet elderly voice huffed, Ness jumped and grinned, "Hey! I think I hear something!" Kir snapped his head back at Ness and narrowed his eyes, _"You hear nothing you filthy mudblood!"_

"Yea… I'm definitely hearing something." Ness said.

"Oh! What did he say?" Selvis asked,

"He called me a mudblood."

"Anything else?"

"Right now he's just thinking about murdering me in my sleep." Ness replied, glaring at Kir, "Geez, are all owls murderous little creeps?"

 _"Look whose talking."_ Kir retorted, _"Why don't you go back to whatever barn you crawled out of and leave me alone?"_

"Rude much?"

 _"I take that as a compliment."_

"Selvis, you have _got_ to teach Kir manners." Ness said, Ginny looked up and sniffled, "Try asking him about his life as a postal bird."

 _"How about I go back to taking my nap? That sounds like a better idea."_

"Kir, you aren't taking a nap until you answer our questions." Ness deadpanned, Kir slumped his furry shoulders and glared at Selvis, who was looking at Ness in awe, "This is amazing!" Selvis exclaimed. Luna nodded in agreement and mused, "I wonder if we can hear Kir if we focus on him…"

Ness glanced at Kir who was ruffling his feathers, _"No one. Is reading my thoughts."_ He declared.

"Is there any way for all of us to hear Kir's thoughts?" Ginny asked, "I don't know…" Ness admitted, "It seems to be a PSI only ability."

"Oh! Maybe if we hold hands Ness can transmit Kir's thoughts to us!" Luna suggested, Selvis snorted and jeered, "And next we'll sing Jambalaya and praising the lovely world we live in!"

"It could work though." Ness said, "Let's just try it." Selvis squirmed then grumbled, "Fine," and accepted Ness's outstretched hand as Luna grabbed his left hand while Ginny held Luna's, "Ready Kir?" Ness asked.

 _"No."_ Kir snapped, "Hey! I heard something!" Ginny said, _"Goodie, now everyone can probe my private thoughts."_ Kir grumbled, "Oh cheer up!" Selvis snapped, "You're the one whose always stealing my quill to write bird scratch!"

 _"Hey! My writing isn't bird scratch!"_ Kir huffed, _"Besides, I only do that when you're busy ignoring the help I so nicely give you."_

"And by help you mean dumping scrolls all over my bed." Selvis deadpanned, "So he's a klepto bird." Ness joked, _"Hey! Those scrolls are notes from students!"_ Kir protested, _"Do you have any idea how hard it is to sneak into each common room and find the good note takers?!"_

"You break into common rooms?!" Ginny exclaimed, "How and Why!?"

"So you were the one who took my glass mouse earrings." Luna mused, Kir slumped his shoulders in disbelief looking away as he grumbled _, "I knew it was too good to be true."_

"Back to the topic at hand Kir!" Selvis snapped, "How on earth do you get into other common rooms?"

 _"Simple, I wait for oblivious students to open the door and I fly in, Gryffindor's the easiest thanks to that Longbottom fellow. Or, at least it was the easiest until that dumb cat messed it up."_

"Crookshanks?" Ginny questioned, "What did he do?"

 _"Steal a piece of parchment with all the passwords on it."_ Kir explained, _"Longbottom always used it to keep track of the passwords that were in use."_

"Why on earth would Crookshanks do that?" Ness wondered, Selvis snorted and said, "Maybe he wanted to let the rat run around for a bit."

"Or maybe he's in cahoots with someone." Luna mused, Selvis rolled his eyes and looked at Luna to say something when Kir hooted, _"Probably is, since he enjoys hanging out with this giant black dog. I swear, I'm going to gouge out the owner's eyes for letting that beast roam free."_

"Crookshanks is working with the grim?" Ness questioned, _"Are you just going to question everything I say?"_ Kir retorted, _"I don't know! Maybe? It could just be a fluke since I always see it out of the corner of my eye."_

"You know… Crookshanks _does_ seem different than other cats I meet." Ginny murmured, "Maybe he _is_ working with the Grim?"

"Why on earth would a dog need a list of passwords?" Selvis questioned, "It doesn't make sense!"

"Maybe Black owns the Grim." Luna theorized, "Maybe he's trying to sneak in the proper way now that the Fat Lady's out of the way." They thought about this for a brief moment before Kir said, _"Whatever the case is, it won't do you any good to mule over it, after all, how could Black find and train a dog to do his bidding?"_

"And why would said dog leap out a window?" Selvis added, "No sensible animal is going to jump out a window for fun." Ness nodded in agreement while Luna gave her two cents on the matter, "Maybe the Grim can fly like a bird."

 _"Why, on earth do you hang around these pathetic excuse for wizards?"_ Kir demanded, giving Luna a glare, "I honestly wonder about that myself." Selvis muttered, earning a playful jerk from Ness, "You know you like us." Ness teased earning an irate, "I do not!" from Selvis who promptly folded his arm to prove a point and said, "Besides! I hope that Ravenclaw crushes you in tomorrows game!"

"That's not going to be likely." Ginny boasted, "Harry's got a new broom!" Luna perked up while Selvis sneered, "What? Did he get a Cleansweeper?"

"Nah, he's got something called a Firebolt." Ness recalled, "HE GOT WHAT?!" Selvis screeched letting go of his hand while Luna merely tilted her head, "Oh dear, that might cause a problem." She mumbled.

"HOW THE BLOODY HECK DID POTTER GET A FIREBOLT?!" Selvis demanded, "I dunno. He just has it." Ness said, "Now, stop screaming, it's just a broom."

"Ness, it's the latest model on the market!" Ginny exclaimed, "It's not 'just a broom' it's _the broom_!" Ness sighed and folded his arms, "And? It's a piece of equipment, the only cool thing about it is how a person uses it."

"Uses it?! A Firebolt isn't just a baseball bat, it's a high trimmed, quality made broom!" Selvis spluttered, "Hey! My wooden bat works just as well as any Fire-thingy and it's at least three years old!" Ness retorted.

"Honestly Ness! You can't just brush aside a Firebolt!" Ginny groaned, "I can if I don't use it." Ness argued, Selvis threw his hands up and stormed for the ladder, "Call me when Ness learns just how well a Firebolt is!" he yelled, Kir raised an eyebrow and hooted, _"Looks like you better get to flying freak."_ Before he flew after Selvis.

"Come on, I think Harry's practicing with it right now." Ginny said, grabbing Ness by the arm and dragging him back to the main hall, "Hey wait! I am not flying on any broom!" Ness protested, "Luna help!"

But she was too busy pondering the chances of Ravenclaw losing increasing because of Harry's new broom. "It won't be that bad." Ginny insisted, Ness groaned and winched as the setting sun blinded him for a bit. "Ginny, I couldn't even survive riding an airplane without praying for my life. What makes you think I'll get on a broomstick?"

"I'll find a way." Ginny stubbornly replied, "Look! Harry's still here, Hi Harry!"

"Harry save me!" Ness yelled as Harry turned around and waved hello, "Save you from what exactly?" Harry asked, "Save me from the red head who wants me to fly on your Bolt of fire thingy!"

"Firebolt." Harry corrected then he looked at Ginny, who bluntly said, "He keeps comparing a broom to a baseball bat."

"They're pretty much the same thing Ginny." Ness deadpanned, "Only difference is that house wives can use brooms better."

"See! He's even worse off than _you_ where you got to Hogwarts!" Ginny exclaimed, "What's going on?" Ron asked, landing beside Harry with a huge grin on his face, "Is Ginny here to take a spin on the Firebolt?"

"Err… No, she's trying to get Ness to rid it." Harry explained, biting back a smile as he angrily glared at the three wizards, "I'm not riding a flying death trap." Ness insisted, "I'll just watch you guys do it in tomorrow's game."

"In hurricane weather?" Ginny teased, earning an irritated, "Heck no! I'll be inside if another Hurricane shows up!" from Ness, "It wasn't that bad a storm." Harry said recalling the game which had destroyed his Nimbus two thousand, "Hurricane weather! It was a hurricane!" Ness snapped.

"Hold on, didn't Malfoy faint at that game?" Ron asked, Ginny stiffened as Ness shoved his hands in his pockets and said, "Probably because he was sitting outside in the hurricane." Harry frowned while Ron sniggered, "Bet he was just afraid of the Dementors, I can see him now, screaming for his mum."

Ness face palmed and looked into the Forbidden woods, jumping slightly when he saw a pair of sharp cat eyes and then the faint outline of Crookshanks, before he could look away and fake seeing anything, Ron, Harry and Ginny followed his gaze, "Is that Crookshanks?" Ginny questioned squinting her eyes to see better, "Lumos!" Harry yelled sounding fearful of something as he pointed his wand above the eyes as a beam of light revealed the murderous cat himself.

"Hey Crookshanks!" Ness yelled, Crookshakes stood up and stretched for a bit, studying them with glazed eyes, "Get out of here!" Ron roared, startling Ness and Ginny as he scooped up a rock and hurled it at the mangy cat's face, "Whoa!" Ness exclaimed, "Relax Ron! He's just being a cat!"

Ron ignored him and threw another rock prompting Crookshanks to disappear with an angry swish of his ginger tail, "See! She's just letting that beast roam whenever he wants!" Ron fumed, "Bet he was just finishing off his 'snack' of Scabbers the little—"

Ness grabbed Ginny and said, "Nice broom Harry!" and marched back up to the castle before Ron could finish his triad, "Poor Harry, he's stuck in the middle." Ginny said, "Well, at least he's on Ron's side." Ness replied, a bit shaken from Ron's sudden rage.

"Is he always like that when he's upset?"

"Depends on what he's mad at." Ginny said, "I know losing Scabbers was hard but I didn't expect him to take it out on Crookshakes like that."

Ness shrugged and turned for the common room, "He's grieving, very loudly but still grieving we just need to give him some space."

Ginny raised an eyebrow and folded her arms, "Since when did you become so wise?"

"I'm not, I just think Ron needs time to calm down and move on." Ness admitted, "I mean, if King was murdered I would want to be alone for a bit to sort out my feelings."

"I suppose so…" Ginny murmured, "Oh! How are you doing on Professor Kale's report?"

"Finished it, you?"

"Stumped, I forgot one of Neptune's moons."

"So you've come to the all-knowing Ness for help." Ness teased earning an eye roll and a retort of, "For someone all knowing, you don't know the difference between a bat or a broom."

Ness threw his hands up and said the latest password before he boasted, "In the morning, you'll be amazed at how knowledgeable I am with Qudditch!"

"Surreeeee." Ginny teased before she went to work on her homework, Ness shrugged and headed for his room to get some sleep, he had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be uber busy.

And it was, he woke early the next day just in time to see Harry with an honor guard march downstairs to breakfast with the other Qudditch players, "Thank god humans don't worship sports equipment." Ness mumbled as he crawled out of bed and got dressed, arriving at breakfast just in time to see Selvis and some other Slytherins gawk at Harry's broom with envy and surprise, their Qudditch team looked thunderstruck as Harry sat down and 'accidental' placed the broom's name in eye range of their table.

"Ron's having a good time so far." Ginny said, smothering a piece of toast with some blueberry jam, "He hasn't been able to keep a straight face ever since Malfoy saw Harry's broom." Ness scooped some eggs onto his plate and glanced at Selvis who sending Ness a look 'This can't be real'

Ness shrugged then resumed placing food on his plate, he frowned when Wood placed Harry's broom in the middle of the table with a proud look on his face, "Really?" Ness muttered as people from other tables, mostly Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw suddenly swarmed their table, hoping to get a glimpse of the Firebolt.

Selvis and Luna joined the group as well, Selvis to jab Ness and Ginny in the ribs and to see that it truly was a Firebolt, while Luna came so she could muse "Hmmm…" before returning to her table. "All this attention, for a broom." Ness said, not believing the crowd of people that were around them, Ginny just sighed and resumed eating her breakfast, Ness did the same after watching one of her older brothers, Percy and his girlfriend examine the broom.

"At least the weather's nice." Ness said, trying to keep his spirits up as he and Ginny headed to the stadium, "Really? I thought this was hurricane weather." Ginny teased.

Ness rolled his eyes and studied the clear winter sky, "Nah, it's hockey season weather."

"What's 'hockey'?"

"Never mind." Ness groaned as they climbed the stairs and found a bench near the top of the bleachers, "Is hockey like baseball?" Ginny questioned, prompting Ness to say "Look! Game's starting!"

"Already?" Ginny faced forward and cheered as Harry flew around the field, searching for the snitch while his teammates scored points. Ness quickly lost interest since there was just so much going on! Even more so than regular sports! Which was saying something since you had to be alert and wide awake if you didn't want to get beaned in the head by a stray home run ball.

Feeling a headache coming on, Ness deiced to listen to the announcer, Lee Jordon, one of the twins' friends. He was praising the Firebolt saying how it was going to be the champion broom for national teams at the Qudditch world cup when Professor McGonagal interrupted, saying, "Jordan, would you focus on the game instead of Potter's broom?"

"Of course! Just wanted to give a little background on the broom Professor."

 _"More like worship it."_ Ness thought as Jordan continued talking about the broom, earning a sharp, "Jordan!" from Professor McGonagall prompting him to talk about the game as the Gryffindor crowd gave an "Ooooooooh" of disappointed as Harry missed the snitch thanks to a bludger. "Gryffindor's leading by eight points to Ravenclaw's zero—just look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting its through its pacing now, now see it turn—Chang's Comet is just no match for it-."

"ARE YOU BEING PAYED TO ADVERTISE THE FIREBOLT JORDAN?! GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"

"Poor McGonagal." Ginny mumbled as she watched the game with interest. "This is awesome!" Ness laughed, "Jordan's the best sports announcer ever!" more interested in watching the announcer's booth to see what Jordan was doing than the game.

"Ravenclaw's lagging behind with only three goals scored but Chang seems to be making up for that, chasing after Harry in hopes of catching the Snitch to get ahead of Gryffindor's fifty-point lead." Jordan said, "Oh! Looks like the game's about to end! Potter's zooming toward the Ravenclaw end in hot pursuit of the Snitch and—What's this?!"

Ness looked back at the field and felt his heart sink as three Dementors glided onto the field looking right at Harry, "Jokes on you creeps though." Ness muttered, _"Rockin' Omega!"_ at the same moment Harry wiped out his wand and roared, _"Expecto patronum!"_ sending a sliver white figure toward the monsters before he resumed chasing after the Snitch.

The mental and physical attack made the monsters crumble like pieces of paper, only able to grab their heads in pain as Harry flew over them, unaffected, _"In. Your. Face."_ Ness thought with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Harry got the snitch!" Ginny yelled, "We won!" her voice being drowned out by the triumphant cheers and roars from their section of the stands as Harry held the Snitch up in the air with a huge grin, which got even bigger as his team air tackled him in a hug of victory.

For a moment, it looked like they were about to tumble out of the sky as they clumsily landed to be greeted by fans and friends, "That was amazing Harry!" Ness lied giving him a high five before Ron grabbed Harry's free arm and held it up in the air, "YES! YES! YES!" Ron yelled. Ness laughed and ducked out of the crowd as more people came closer to shower him with praise. Even the teachers were pleased!

Ness nearly made his way out of the crowd when someone grabbed his arm, Ness jumped and looked up as he was dragged back into the crowd and behind Harry, "Professor Lupin…?" Ness muttered as he leaned forward and whisper something in his ear, he briefly, "They uh… weren't Dementors." Causing Ness to stand up straight and look at where the Dementors were.

He paled when he saw Malfoy, his two goons, and the Slytherin team captain looking up at the furious Professor McGonagal with pained, drunk expressions, _"Crud."_ Was all Ness could think as he remembered just how much damage Rockin' Omega could do, 320-960 damage to be exact.

 _"Life up Omega."_ Ness mentally commanded. Feeling a slight pang of guilt at his actions, sure, they had been trying to cheat by scaring Harry, but they didn't deserve to have their minds shattered into glass for that. With that gloomy thought in mind he sneaked back to the Gryffindor common room to crawl into bed and think for a bit

"Man… When did school become so morally challenging?" Ness muttered as he heard footsteps storm into the common room and wild cheers of celebration. This entire second semester he had spent trying to figure out if Black was a good guy, and now he had to worry about possible pranks that could actually hurt Harry.

"I should dial back on the Omega…" Ness decided, suddenly feeling tired, "And get some sleep…" he yawned pulling his cover or his head for a quick nap.

When he woke up, it was pitch black and the stars were shining, "Man… I must have slept through the party." Ness grumbled feeling weird and oddly full of energy. He stood up and headed downstairs to see if anyone else was awake, they weren't, they were out like lights.

"Huh… nearly four in the morning." Ness noted, glancing at an old grandfather clock that had been shoved in the far corner of the common room, "Oh well, might as well get in some extra-," he cut off when he saw figure in black dart out of the third year's dormitory followed by a loud scream.

"Black." Ness realized as the figure flew out of the common room and into the hallway, but did that mean that Harry was dead? Was that his scream of terror? Ness shook his head and took a running start, _"Teleport!"_ Ness thought picturing himself on the hallway exit and hopefully, in front of Black.

He heard a strangled gasp of surprise and blindly lunged forward, tackling the serial killer, "Gotcha now!" Ness said, careful to keep his voice low and even, _"Let go of me!"_ Black wheezed, spinning and a circle and kicking him down a flight of stairs, Ness yelped in surprised as he tumbled backward and slammed into a wall. "Oww…" Ness groaned as his head spun, "Thanks for that, I broke a rib."

"Stay out of my way." Black ordered, Ness coughed and pushed himself onto his stomach, using Life up alpha to heal the broken rib, "Not so fast, why are you doing this?!" Ness demanded jumping to his feet and glaring at the back of Black's robe as he sprinted past him.

"Darn it…" he muttered before he chased after him. Black was nearly at a classroom when Ness finally used Paralysis Alpha on him, freezing him mid-stride, "Why… didn't… I… do this… in the first place." Ness panted skidding to a stop so he could catch his breath. He glanced up at Black and said, "Don't bother struggling, you're stuck like a rock until I free you."

Black grunted and angrily watched as Ness dragged him into the classroom, positioning him behind an army of desks so he couldn't easily escape once he unfroze him.

"Now then," Ness started, a little unsure what he should do with the serial killer, "I can either A: hand you over to the walking freezers or, B: You tell me what you're after."

"Why… should… I… Tell.. you?" Black grunted, "Because, I don't think you switched sides to murder James." Ness continued, "It just… doesn't make sense, why murder a person—no, _people_ and then get put in jail when you know that your best friend's son is alive. It just…"

Ness broke off and pinched the adjusted his hat, while Black gave a mirthless chuckle, "Yea, yea, I'm crazy." Ness grumbled, "I just don't think you're a bad person."

"Why?"

"My dad used to say that every action has a reason, and you… You just don't seem to have a sensible reason." Ness said, "As I said before, you wasted your life in jail and now decide to come after Harry despite knowing that he was a wizard and going to be sent to Hogwarts from the start." He looked up at Black and folded his arms, "So what gives? Why strike now? Is there someone else your gunning for?"

Black said nothing for a long moment before Ness sighed and threw his hands up, "Great, Selvis was right and I'm insane." He glanced at Black once more and against his better judgement, used Healing Alpha on Black, Black gasped in surprise and tumble forward as Ness headed for the door, "What? Black spluttered, "You're just, going to let me go?"

Ness hesitated and gave Black a calm look, "Well… You haven't exactly hurt anyone… And as I said before… I don't think you're a bad person." He faced forward and started to head back to the common room, "Wait." Ness paused and looked behind him, "I'm not after Harry. I'm after someone else." Black started, his cold empty eyes full of vengeful fire, "The _real_ killer of Lily and James Potter" Ness stiffened as Black finished with a snarl, _"Peter Petigrew."_

* * *

 ** _Dun dun dun!...Darn it... I had nothing to follow up that Dun-dun-dun... oh well! Once again have a happy Thanksgiving!  
_**


	7. Chapter 7, Convicted and Wronged

**Merry Christmas! :D**

* * *

Peter Petigrew, a man everyone had assumed, and had known dead for as long as Harry was the boy who lived, was Black's target. "Wha...what?" Ness stammered as Black opened a window and prepared to jump outside, "Peter somehow faked his death or something?"

"You catch on pretty quick for a goodie two shoes." Was all Black said as he disappeared into the night. Ness could only look at the spot the known 'serial' killer had been, still trying to truly process what was going on as the fact that he had been right sunk in.

"Wait… that means he was wrongly convicted…" Ness realized, "And he's probably going to get the death sentence if he gets caught again." Then he frowned and folded his arms realizing something. "If Peter's alive, then does that mean the attacks on Gryffindor tower was to search for Peter, who is probably hiding right under our noses… But how? And what would he even look like now?"

Ness sighed and turned around to start the long walk back to the common room, "Well… at least I don't have to worry about him being guilty anymore." He muttered.

Sadly, that dreaded thought came right back to haunting him as the entire school was in terrified uproar. The next day, Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the paintings how to recognize Sirius Black while the caretaker boarded up every crack, mouse hole and entry way that wasn't a window or the front door to ensure that he couldn't get back in.

Even the common room had extra measures to keep Black out, as security trolls had been stationed by the Fat Lady, who took her place back after Sir Cadogen had foolishly let Black in since he had all the passwords, all thanks to Neville who was forced to wait outside and be told the password by a fellow Gryffindor for the rest of the school year.

The only good news seemed to come from Ron who was happily retelling the story of his close encounter with Black claiming that he was about to be killed by the 'serial killer'. This made Ness doubt his actions for a brief moment but then realized that Ron was probably involved with Peter Petigrew, most likely unaware that he could have helped out the _real_ killer disappear under the radar.

"Oy! Ness!" he jumped and looked up from his breakfast which was a measly piece of toast and an egg. "Hagrid wants us to visit." Ron explained handing him a letter that Harry's snow white owl had delivered, "Want to come?"

Ness stared at him, dumbfounded for a bit before he realized the question, "Sure, I don't mind meeting the giant." Ness shakily joked, "I'll come. What time?"

"Around six." Harry explained, "He's meeting us by the entrance hall."

"Cool, see you at six then." Ness said, suddenly feeling the urge to be alone with just his thoughts, so, he headed to the library in hopes of finding some method of magically faking death. "Magical charms to impress your friends… Nope, the wonderful joke spells you can cast on friends… nope." Ness murmured idly scanning the rows upon rows of books.

"Nothing here to really show how to fake your death."

"Faking your death?" Ness jumped a foot in air as Selvis snaked around the corner, a coy smirk on his face, "Sounds like a secret~" he whisper sang, Ness glanced around and frowned, "What are you doing here?" Ness questioned, "Studying for a test?"

"Well, I was, but then I remembered how spacey you were acting," Selvis said, casually leaning against the bookcase, "You didn't even flinch at Longbottom's Howler."

"What's a howler?"

"See! Distracted, and it has something to do with Black." Selvis accused, his smirk growing wider by the second as Ness sighed and adjusted his hat, "Geez… you weren't kidding about finding things out. Alright, what do you want to know."

"What happened last night," Selvis said bluntly, "Send it to me by owl mail or else." Before Ness could question the what else Selvis disappeared, probably to resume studying. Or, spying that was probably the real reason.

"No prob Professor Karma." Ness grumbled as he left the library empty handed, "I'll get on that essay right now."

"Essay?" a dreamy voice mused, causing Ness to jump once more as Luna passed him, "I didn't know you had an essay to write."

"It's a joke." Ness yelled after her before he headed to the common room to write Selvis's letter and hopefully find something to distract himself with. Maybe he could read Crookshanks mind, after all, Black must have received the list of passwords from someone, or rather, the only cat in the building.

But of course, Crookshanks was nowhere to be seen, "Hogwarts, the school for training young witches and wizards." Ness grumbled as he sat down in the far corner of the common room to start writing, "More like the school for puzzles and headaches."

It wasn't too long before six rolled around causing Harry and Ron to drag him outside. "I bet he wants to hear about the attack on my life." Ron boasted earning a half nod from Harry and an annoyed "Dude, you shouldn't be so happy about nearly getting KILLED." From Ness.

"Look! There's Hagrid!" Harry said, before Ron could argue with Ness, "Hagrid! Bet'cha want to hear about Saturday night!" Ron said, Ness bit back a smile of relief as Haridg grunted, "I've already heard all abou' it." And looked at Ness who waved hello and introduce himself, "I'm Ness Earthbound, the Second year whose really a First Year."

"Heard abou' you too Earthbound," Hardig said as he turned to leave, "Didn' know you were friends with Harry and Ron though'." Ness shrugged and shoved his hands in his red parka, preparing for the winter cold as they stepped outside and headed toward Hagrid's house.

Which Ness soon realized was the random house near the end of school property. He had seen it from a distance, but thought it was a magical garden shed. He was about to make a joke about Hagrid having such a huge backyard when the small giant opened the door, revealing a cabin like design and a giant, grey winged bird-horse like creature resting on a patchwork quilt while eating a large plate of dead ferrets.

Ness stiffened as his PSI went off, warning of an attack, "Right," Harry said, noticing the nervous smile on Ness's face, "You haven't meet Buckbeck yet."

"Buckbeck…? Nice name." Ness mumbled, resisting the urge to reach for his baseball bat which was back home. "He's a Hippogriff," Hadgrig said sounding pleased with the giant bird/horse creature, "A marvelously and prideful beast he is." Ness nodded and flinched as Buckbeck looked up his fierce orange eyes locking onto Ness as fast as lighting. Ness jumped but somehow kept eye contact, although he felt that this was a dumb idea since animals hated eye contact, it usually ended in a battle of dominance when there was eye contact.

"Try not ter blink Ness!" Hagrid said sounding a bit worried, "Keep eye contact and give a short bow before you back away."

Back away, easier said than done. Ness's brain had already switched over to Fight mode, and the closest thing to backing away as Running away, which wasn't going to help. Taking as small a deep breath as he could, Ness bowed and resumed eye contact with a determent glint in his eyes as Buckbeck stood up and studied him.

 _"And what are you…?"_ a low, elegant voice rumbled, bouncing around his head for a bit, it took Ness a moment to realize that Buckbeck was speaking to him, somehow perceiving his telepathy ability.

 _"Well, I'm Ness Earthbound and I'm a PSI user, who is somehow a wizard."_

"Ness…" Harry warned as Buckbeck's eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared slightly, _"PSI… User…? I was told of such a being but I never knew that they allowed such annoyingly powerful children into a school of divided idiots."_ Buckbeck mused.

 _"Oh, the house system? Yea, sort of dumb if you ask me. Why not just have a normal school set-up instead of angry snakes' vs equally angry lions?"_ Ness thought. Buckbeck tilted his head then hmpfed, _"So, which side are you?"_

 _"Depends on the topic, house wise or something else?"_

 _"idiotic and naïve."_ Buckbeck decided, _"I'm about to go to trail, for attacking a moronic snake. Which, by the way, brought upon himself for insulting me."_

 _"Lesson learned, don't insult ab all powerful hippogrief."_

 _"I'm a hippogriff."_ Buckbeck corrected, a small flame of anger appearing in his eyes, _"Hey, I was close!"_ Ness joked, _"At least I didn't call you a Bolt of fire thingy."_

 _"A what now?"_ Buckbeck questioned, the flame of anger slowly vanishing, _"Well, Harry got a Firebolt and all my friends were going crazy over it."_ Ness explained, _"I didn't really see what so great about it, I mean, brooms are for sweeping, and sure, some brands are better at trapping dirt but, why have a scream feast over a broom? I'd rather get a new bat."_

Buckbeck stared at Ness for a couple minutes before he lied back down and started to laugh, causing Ness to throw his hands up and look at Harry, "Okay, seriously! Why does everyone say that the Firebolt is the greatest broom in the world?! It's a broom!"

"Er… yes, but it's the latest model." Harry explained looking at Buckbeck who was shaking with laughter, "Wh… what just happened?" Ron asked, "Apparently, me calling the Firebolt a bolt of fire and explaining my lack of interest amuses him." Ness said with a shrug.

 _"Hee-hee! A wizard's broom being used for sweeping! Ironic!"_

"Wait, he's laughing since I said that the firebolt could be used as an everyday broom." Ness corrected, "You wer' talking to him?!" Hagrid spluttered, Ness jumped and hastily said, "Sure! It's uh, a special ability that runs in my family. We can understand the thoughts of animals." Before he quickly changed the topic, "By the way, what did Buckbeck mean by a trial? He said that attacked someone for dishonoring him, but who sues a magically bird horse of… uh… awesomeness?"

Thankfully, Buckbeck didn't hear his rushed comment about being a magical bird horse but Harry and Ron did, and their faces darkened with guilt while Hagrid gave lowered his eyes, "He did indeed' attac' someone, Draco Malfoy." Hagrid explained, "It wasn' to bad, just a simple scratch-,"

 _"I was hoping that I could claw his mouth off. But I settled for a simple shoulder wound"_ Buckbeck added as Hagrid continued "And Draco told is' father whose very high' up in the school board and well..."

"The nasty little git." Ron grumbled, "It was his own fault that Buckbeck attacked!" Buckbeck nodded in agreement while Harry dropped his head in shame, "I'm sorry Hagrid, we were supposed to be helping with Buckbeck's trail but we-,"

"Don't worr' abou' it." Hagrid said, "You have Quidditch Practice and Black to worry abou' it's natural that this slipp' ya mind."

"It… is?" Harry questioned as Ron blinked in surprise, "What I really called ya down here is because of Hermione." Sensing that this would be a serious talk Ness inched closer to Buckbeck, "Well, while you three talk about Hermione, I'm going to chat with Buckbeck." Ness said.

 _"And just what, are we going to 'chat' about?"_ Buckbeck questioned as Ness sat down in front of him, _"Whatever you want, I honestly want to get my mind off about something I found out."_

 _"Oh? And just what was this 'something?'"_ Buckbeck probed, looking interested, _"Well… You know about Sirius Black, famous killer whose been scaring everyone half to death, right?"_

 _"Of course, Hagrid mutters about him almost every night."_

 _"Well, When he tried to 'attack' Ron, I chased after him and found out that he didn't murder Harry's parents. Another friend of his did it."_

 _"Not seeing the problem here."_

 _"This friend, is dead, and has been since Voldmort fell."_ Ness jumped in surprise as Buckbeck entire body twitched with anger and oddly enough, fear.

 _"Sorry! I forget that magical creatures are weirded out by his name."_

 _"Don't be. I thought I wasn't afraid of him anymore."_

 _"Anymore? I uh, thought he terrorized Muggle born people only."_

 _"He did, but he had a lot of followers, not all of them being wizards, some were vampires or werewolves and they were always searching for power."_

 _"Did he come after your species?"_

 _"Of course he did, we're prideful creatures with the power to make any wizard shake in his pathetic little boots."_ Buckbeck sniffed, _"So he did everything in his power to make us his personal slaves. Even though we weren't too badly harmed by his magic, his aura however…"_

 _"What about his aura?"_

 _"It wasn't… human…. I sensed death, as if he had died and lost his souls to the gods of the dead, yet he still moved, threatened and acted like a living wizard."_

 _"Sooo... 'undead yet living monster?"_ Ness deadpanned, Buckbeck nodded and started to groom his wings, _"That's one way to put it, even though my people knew he was gone for good, we couldn't help but wonder if he truly was gone, maybe he was waiting in the shadows, to take revenge, or maybe he truly was dead. Who knew?"_

 _"Man… That must have been awful, hearing the news of Volde- You know who's death only to have his shadow loom over your kind._

 _"I hated that shadow."_ Buckbeck grumbled, _"Still do."_

Ness could only nod in agreement, not exactly sure what to say next. He glanced at Harry and Ron who were still talking with Hagrid about Hermione, Ron was getting upset about something but Ness wasn't sure what. And he didn't really want to know.

 _"So how's life with Hagrid?"_ Ness asked.

 _"Oddly satisfying."_ Buckbeck admitted, glancing at Hagrid who seemed to be finishing up the conversation, _"I never expected a human like creature to take such good care of my brethren and I."_

 _"Well, he seems a bit monster crazed."_ Ness joked, Buckbeck nodded in agreement and closed his eyes as Hagrid scratched his head saying, "Now come on, I have to walk you three back to the castle'."

"See ya later Buckbeck!" Ness yelled as Hagrid herded them back toward the castle. After they bid goodbye and goodnight Harry and Ron quickly started to question Ness about his ability to speak with animals.

"Have you had it long?" Ron questioned.

"For as long as I can remember." Ness replied while hopping over a trick step, "Can you talk to any animal? Or just certain ones?" Harry asked.

"Not sure, I just started talking to owls and Hippogriefs."

"Hippogriff." Harry corrected before he asked, "Maybe you could ask if Crookshanks really did eat Scabbers."

"Of course he did." Ron grumbled, "He's a bloody maniac."

 _"Or maybe he knows something about Peter…"_ Ness thought, his omen from the beginning of the year coming back to haunt him as the pieces slowly clicked together. Harry just nodded and resumed asking questions, dumb things like what animals have you talked to so far, and what they had to say.

Ness skirted around his conversation with Kir and lied, claiming that he just had a brief argument with the owl who brought him his enrollment letter.

"I honestly can't remember what it was about." Ness lied managing a cheerful smile as he turned the corner and headed up to the Owlery, "Where are you going?" Ron questioned, "Owlery, need to mail something." Ness said, "Go on without me!"

They hesitated for a moment, prompting Ness to turn around and say, "Chill! I'm the all-powerful wizard, remember? I can handle myself if anything happens."

"Alright." Harry said slowly, "If you say so." Ron nodded in agreement and continued walking toward the portrait hole.

"Man…." Ness sighed, "I didn't mean to let that slip."

 _"Let what slip?"_ Kir sleepily questioned, _"Are we talking mice or slices of toast?"_

Ness jumped and glared at Kir who was yawning and blinking his eyes, _"Well? Which is it?"_ Kir prompted, "None, I just let Harry, Ron and Hagrid know a valuable secret." Ness replied as he tied the letter to Kir's leg.

 _"Oh? What kind of secret?"_

Ness gave Kir a weary look before he turned around and said, "Good night!"

 _"Hey wait! The secret! This is a very important thing we need to talk about!"_ Kir protested as Ness speed walked toward the common room, needing a nice long nap before more bad news popped up. Of course, even before he could ignore the large crowd of people hovering around the bulletin board he spotted Hermione peering through a small window in a wall of books.

"Hermione?" Ness questioned, causing her to jump in surprise, "Nice fortress."

"Oh… Thank you…" she mumbled before she resumed looking through the window, "Soooo, who ya spying on?" Ness questioned, happily joining Hermione on the couch, she squirmed and looked through the wall, where Harry and Ron where whispering about something slowly approaching a couch in front of Hermione's book fort.

"What are they whispering about…" Ness asked, Hermione jerked her head toward the bulletin board and said, "There's a Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend. Ron's probably talking about going to it with Harry."

Ness slowly nodded as he caught a snippet of "Well, Flich hasn't done anything about that passage into Hogsmeade…." From Harry which made Hermione tremble slightly.

Maybe it was fear of Harry and Ron's life being put at risk or because she felt the need to warn them of going, Ness wasn't sure. But before he could offer to talk them out of going she poked her head up and hissed in Harry's ear, startling him as she tried her best to persuade him, "Harry, if you go into Hogsmeade I'll… I'll tell Professor McGonagall about the map!" Correction, threaten some sense into Harry.

Ness gave Hermione a look of pity as Ron merely growled, "Harry, did you hear something? It sounded like someone talking to us." Prompting Hermione to change tactics and scold him, "Ron how can you encourage him to go to Hogsmeade? Sirius nearly killed you! I mean it! I'll tell-" before she could finish Ron angry snapped, "So now you're trying to get Harry expelled! Haven't you done enough damage this year?"

Before Hermione could argue or look to Ness who was surprised at how bad this really was, Crookshanks hopped on her lap with a soft hiss and glared at Ron, daring him to say something while Hermione muffled a frightful gasp at Ron's furious expression at and scurried to her dormitory with Crookshanks in her arms.

"So, how about it?" Ron questioned, the angry tension vanishing as quickly as it appeared, "You haven't even checked out Zonko's!" Harry thought about it for a brief moment, but it didn't take a genius to see that he planned on going.

 _"Oh brother…"_ Ness mentally groaned, sure, Siruis Black wasn't after them, but they still had a 'dead' manic on the lose who was probably going to try and avenge his dead master.

"Hey guys, maybe you should skip this Hogsmeade." Ness suggested, propping his elbows on the table and giving Ron and Harry a worried look, "What the—how long were you there?" Harry questioned.

"Long enough to hear the argument." Ness bluntly replied before he continued speaking, "Black is still on the loose and judging by his last attack he's gunning for both of you."

"And?" Ron questioned, "You'll be coming along to keep watch."

"Under a invisible cloak where I'll be forced to secretly cast my magic in order to defend us if Black shows up in public." Ness deadpanned, "Even if nothing bad happens, I feel safer knowing that there were two visible people instead of one."

Ron threw his hands up and snapped, "Don't tell me your siding with Hermione!"

"I'm just trying to be a good protector, and as much as I would love to see some magical prank store, I'd like to see it without having to worry about getting in trouble." Ness gave Harry a hard look and said, "Which means that we should stay in the castle and just fool around until the next Hogsmeade weekend."

"And what if there isn't another Hogsmeade weekend?" Harry argued sounding a little worried, Ron nodded in agreement, "He's right, after all with all the attacks going on we should reap the rewards while we can."

Ness looked at Ron in disbelief, before he focused on Harry again, "Please, don't do anything dumb." Ness pleaded before he headed for bed.

Of course, when Hogsmeade weekend rolled around, Ness couldn't find Harry anywhere, "I now know how my mom feels when she discovers I went behind her back and did something stupid." Ness grumbled, after finding no trace of Harry he had headed up to the classroom where Selvis and Luna were waiting, Ginny was in the library doing some quick studying before she could join them.

"It can't be that bad." Luna mused, happily drawing on a dusty desk, "I bet he's just exploring the castle." Selvis snorted and closed his Potions book, "As if, Potter's drawn to trouble, knowing him, he and Weasly are off partying while Black—I mean, the other party hunts them down."

"Other party?" Luna questioned, Selvis nodded and glared at Ness who held his hands up, "Hey! I sent the letter like you asked! I just couldn't find the time to tell Luna and Ginny about what really happened."

"What really happened?" they jumped as Ginny climbed into the classroom with her book-bag, "Are you talking about the reason why Hermione's crying?"

"Granger's crying?" Selvis questioned, his eyes glowing with mischief, "Yes, and now I'm not sure if I should ask." Ginny retorted.

"She's probably worried about Harry and Ron." Ness guessed, "They had another argument last night, one which I was a part of."

Luna frowned and murmured "Oh dear…" while Selvis leaned forward, intrigued, "What happened? Are they still battling it out over that dead rat?"

"Yes and no." Ness started, "Ron was trying to egg Harry into doing something dangerous and Hermione threatened to report them to the teachers."

"Should've blackmailed them." Selvis tsked, "It gets better results than empty threats." Ginny glared at him while Ness continued, "I tried to make them change their minds but judging by the fact that I can't find Harry anywhere, they did whatever they were planning."

"Harry would make a perfect Slytherin." Selvis mused, "Breaking the rules just to have fun at others expense."

"You don't break the rules." Ness reminded him, "I do to!" Selvis retorted, "I'll have you know that I managed to bug the teachers' lounge with this!" he shoved a dull green stone into his face and smirked, "I call it a listening gem, I place the copies around the place, wait for students and or teachers to find it and listen in when someone's talking."

Luna and Ness oohed in awe while Ginny grudgingly said, "Impressive." Selvis nodded and tossed the stone in the air, bragging, "It was pretty easy, since all I needed to do was water down a All Hearing potion to mask the magic and place a couple long lasting and connection charms."

"Maybe I should plant one on Harry." Ness wondered, then he frowned and shook his head when he realized that Selvis would happily tell his housemates about Harry's problems.

"Anyway, you guys remember when Black attacked Ron?" Ness started, they nodded while Selvis just smirked, "Well, I woke up and headed downstairs just in time to see Black running out of the common room. I gave chase, caught him and tried to get some answers out of him."

"And?" Ginny questioned, looking hopeful, "I didn't get anything but a name." Ness said, "Peter Petigrew."

"Peter… Petigrew." Luna frowned then brightened, "Oh! You mean that guy who died."

"What does Peter have to do with anything?" Ginny asked, "He died confronting Black."

"Or did he?" Ness said, "According to Black, Peter was the person who murdered Harry's parents. Not him."

"And you believe him?" Ginny asked in disbelief. Ness nodded, "I let him go, after barricading him behind a wall of desks and paralyzing him. He could have just fled, but he chose to tell me about his real target."

"Which suddenly makes him a good guy." Selvis said with a sigh, "Well, do you have any other reason as to why the famed serial killer let a boy, with unnatural powers run free to tell his classmates?" Ness challenged. Ginny and Selvis shared a brief look while Luna shook her head no, "So Peter faked his death…" Luna mused, "I wonder how."

"He could have apparated." Ginny suggested, "I mean, no one knew which spell he used, right? So he could have delayed it for a bit so he could apparate."

"But they found one of his fingers." Selvis reminded her, "And it's impossible for a wizard who was described as a terrible duelist to pull that off."

"I think he used normal explosives." Ness said.

"Also impossible." Selvis countered, "Magic and electronics don't work."

"Really? Dang…" Ness glanced out the window while Luna suggested that Peter Petigrew was really a were-creature who had triggered a fake full moon to escape his 'death'."

"During the day?" Selvis deadpanned. "Impossible."

"Maybe Luna's right." Ginny mused, "But instead of him being a were-creature, maybe he was a trained Animagus."

"Oh! I should see if anyone has any known records!" Selvis exclaimed, looking excited, "You can check?" Ness questioned.

"Of course! Animagus wizards are extremely hard to come by, so the ones that can transfigurate themselves into an animal have to register to ensure that they don't abuse their powers." Selvis explained.

"But… What if Peter Petigrew never registered?" Ness questioned.

"Then, we have no hopes of proving that theory true." Selvis answered.

"So back to square one." Ginny sighed.

"We're always back to square one." Ness groaned, "As usual."  
"When did school become so hard?" Selvis whined, "I liked it better when I could easily find anything about anyone!"

"Like?" Ginny questioned,

"Well, you know Professor Lupin?" Selvis said, "Apparently he has to take a special potion made by Professor Snape and only him every full moon."

"Do you know what potion it is?" Luna questioned, Selvis shook his head no, "They've kept it hush-hush. All I know is that Snape's been doing it ever since Lupin's been here."

"Odd…" Ness mused, Ginny nodded in agreement then perked up, "Hold on! Maybe Professor Lupin knows something about Peter!"

"What makes you say that?" Ness questioned, "Well, James and Sirius were in the same year as Gryffindors, as well as Peter Petigrew." Ginny explained, "I remember my Mum and Dad muttering about they hoped that James last friend wasn't getting hunted down either."

"Last friend?" Selvis mused, "So there was a group of four not three…"

"Hopefully he's still alive." Luna murmered, Ness and Ginny nodded in agreement while Selvis sneered, prepared to make a cocky comment when he flinched and pulled out his Listening stone with glee, "Yesss!" he hissed, taping the surface with his wand.

"What's going on?" Ness asked only to get a loud, "Shush!" from Selvis as Snape's cold voice echoed from the stone, it was muffled, but Ness could still make out Snape saying, "Mr. Malfoy has just told me a very interesting story, Potter."

 _"Harry… what did you do?"_ Ness questioned as Harry said nothing.

"He tells me that he was up by the Shrieking Shack when he ran into Weasly—who was alone."

Ginny frowned and looked at Luna, then Ness who was adjusting his hat, trying to ignore the growing knot in his stomach, "Mr. Malfoy states that while he was talking to Weasly, a large amount of mud hit him in the back of the head." Snape paused then asked, "How do you think that could have possibly happened?"

"I don't know Professor." Harry said, sounding mildly surprised. Snape said nothing for what felt like a million years before he coolly continued, "Mr. Malfoy then saw an extraordinary apparition. Could you guess what it was, Potter?"

"No." Harry replied, his voice faintly full of curiosity, Selvis smothered a gleeful giggle as Snape finished, "It was your head Potter, floating. In midair."

"How…?" Ginny whispered as Selvis snickered, "He's in troubleeee~"

"Shush." Ness ordered as Harry tried to say something, something about Malfoy heading to the school nurse when Snape softly cut him off, asking, "What would your head be doing in Hogsmeade, Potter? Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade."

"I know that." Harry replied, "It sounds like Malfoy's having hallucinations-," they jumped back in surprise as Snape suddenly snarled, "Malfoy is not having hallucinations. If your head was in Hogsmeade then so was the rest of you."

"Seems like Snape reaaally has it out for Potter." Selvis gleefully mused as Harry tried to lie about his whereabouts, only to be cut off by Snape once again who quickly asked, "Can anyone confirm that?"

"Ness can." Harry answered, almost as quickly as Snape had asked him, "No he can't." Luna murmured, "He's been up here with us all day."

"Yes, but Ness was the only other person to know what they were doing." Ginny reminded them as Ness felt his stomach drop. He hated lying, and he was terrible it, it was bad enough that he had lied about how he and Harry had found a cloak of invisibility claiming that he accidentally used his PSI powers to create one.

"I see… And where is Mr. Earthbound now?" Snape questioned.

"He's dead. He is bloody dead!" Selvis exclaimed as Harry said, "Still in the common room, we were studying for Lupin's essay."

"I see… Stay right here Potter." Snape instructed, getting up to fetch Ness, who was up in the East Wing, far, far away from the Gryffindor common room.

"What are you going to do!?" Ginny exclaimed as they heard the door to Snape's office open and close, "You can't run all the way there!" while Selvis happily cackled at Harry's fate. "Potter's a goner! He'll be expelled before he can say Sirius Black!"

"Not unless I can safely teleport to the common room." Ness said, hoping that the room would be half empty, Selvis stopped laughing and sulked, "Bugger… forgot you could do that." Ness smiled and backed up, "Oh! Wait!" Selvis shoved a pearl white rock into Ness's hand and smirked, "Just in case you need more 'witnesses.'" Selvis explained.

"Riiighhht." Ness said before he sprinted forward and pictured himself in the closet hallway to the Common Room. He landed with a stumble but managed to turn around and make it seem like he was leaving as he spotted Snape, practically flying up the stairwell to reach him.

"Professor Snape?" Ness questioned, trying his best to look surprised, "Is something wrong sir?"

"It depends." Snape said, sounding a bit breathless, "Follow me Mr. Earthbound." Ness nodded and followed him to his office, which was in the lowest part of the castle. He couldn't help but wonder if all the teachers who taught Potions hid down here since it was so gloomy and mysterious.

"Hey Harry!" Ness chirped as Snape pointed to a chair which Harry was oddly not sitting in before he resumed his position behind his desk. "So why am I here, sir?" Ness asked, sitting down and trying his best to look formal, "I just have a simple question." Snape started, "Were you with Harry this afternoon?"

"Yes sir," Ness answered, "We were studying for Defense Against Dark Arts."

"And he didn't leave by himself, correct?"

"Nope, we left a couple times to check out some books at the library, but other than that we stayed holed up in the common room."

"I see…" Snape mused, looking unfazed by how Ness's (hopefully) rock solid alibi. "And you aren't lying to me, are you Mr. Earthbound?"

"What would I gain by lying?" Ness questioned, "Besides getting out trouble, sure, but if I broke a rule then I'd rather come clean then create a bigger mess."

"Is that so?" Snape questioned, a glint forming, Ness nodded and suppressed the urge look away from Snape's cold black eyes. "Si Senor." Ness said, a small smiling forming as Snape gave him a small, blank look then straightened focusing on Harry once more. "So everyone from the Minister of Magic to Headmaster Dumbledore has been trying to keep famous Harry Potter safe from Sirius Black and yet here he is, throwing himself and his American bodyguard into danger since the Famous Harry Potter can do whatever he please."

Harry stiffened, but didn't say anything as Ness asked, "You know why I'm here?" only to be ignored, "It's almost uncanny how you act _just_ like your father, he was exceedingly arrogant, a small amount of talent on the Qudditch field made him think he was the best of the best, untouchable even." Snape continued, a cruel yet bitter smirk forming as he spoke, "Strutting around the place with friends and admirers… The resemblance is, once again, uncanny."

"My dad didn't _strut_." Harry blurted, his hands shaking in anger, "And neither do I."

 _"Yea, you mostly sneak around peoples backs."_ Ness bitterly thought, a bit upset at having to be a false witness to Harry's claims. The moment they were out of Snape's office was the moment he… do something. He wasn't very good at coming up with good punishments… Maybe he should ask his mom for help…

He jumped as Harry suddenly roared, "SHUT UP!" and had his wand half out and probably burning a hole in Harry's robe as he angrily looked at Snape, who had gone ridged with anger and surprise. _"Annnd I miss something important. Lovely."_

He flinched as Snape coldly hissed, " _What did you say to me, Potter?"_

"I told you to shut up about my dad!" Harry snapped, "I know the truth, all right? He saved your life! Dumbledore told me! You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for him!"

 _"Snape was saved by James? Daaannnng."_ Was all Ness could think as Snape's sallow skin turned the color of sour milk, for a couple moments, Ness was afraid that Snape might start shooting lasers out of his eyes as he whispered, "And did the headmaster tell you the circumstances in which your father saved my life? Or did he consider the details to unpleasant for precious Potter's ears?"

Harry bit his lip while Ness shakily raised his hand, guessing the answer, "Um… Potter's dad pulled a prank on you which nearly killed you?"

"Correct!" Snape said before he focused on Harry once more, "Your _heroic_ father and his friends played a highly amusing joke on me that would have killed me if your father didn't get cold feet at the last moment." Ness warily studied Harry as Snape finished with, "There was nothing brave about what he did! He was saving his own skin as much as mine, if the joke had succeeded he would have been expelled from Hogwarts!"

"Oh…gosh…" was all Ness could manage as Snape bared his uneven yellow coated teeth and ordered "Turn out your pockets! Both of you!" Ness jumped and clumsily rummaged around his robe pockets to pull out various items while wondering if he should do the same with his jeans when Snape snapped, "Turn out your pockets or we go straight to the headmaster! Pull them out Potter!"

Harry slowly did as told as Ness showed his wand, a broken quill and Selvis's magic rock, hoping that Selvis wouldn't get to mad if Snape decided to confiscated it.

"Ron gave it to me." Harry said, holding a Zonko's bag and the Marauder's map, "He—brought them back from Hogsmeade last time—"

"Indeed? And you've been carrying them around ever since?" Snape questioned before his cold eyes focused on the map, then the stone, "And, what are these?"

"Well, that's a random rock I found around the lake bed after Christamas break." Ness lied, "Lame, but it's really pretty." Snape nodded and looked at Harry who shrugged and said, "Spare bit of parchment." Causing Snape to turn the map over, his eyes still on Harry, "Surely, you don't need this very _old_ piece of parchment, or…" he looked at Ness and played with Selvis's listening stone, "This bejeweled rock… do you?"

"Well, I don't _need_ it per say, but I'd rather keep it to show my parents when I get back home." Ness said with a small shrug as Snape slowly leaned toward the fireplace, "I see…" was all Snape said as he posed himself to drop both the rock and map into the fireplace.

"No!" Harry said, abruptly moving forward before he cringed, "So! Is this another treasured gift from Mr. Weasly? Or is it—something else? A letter, perhaps, written in invisible ink? Or instructions to get into Hogsmeade without passing the dementors?"

Harry merely blinked while Ness joked, "Well, if is instructions to sneak past dementors then I'm sure that every teacher would like one." This earned him a cold glare from Harry and Snape. "What? It's true." He muttered, slumping in his seat while Snape took out his wand, smoothed the map out and pointed the slender stick at it, saying "Reveal your secret!" nothing happened. Ness and Harry glanced at each other as Snape tried again, "Show yourself!" still, nothing happened.

With a frustrated growl Snape smacked the map with his wand saying, "Professor Severus Snape, master of this school commands you to yield the information you conceal!"

 _That_ , got Snape results, although it wasn't the results Snape wanted since an invisible hand wrote in swoopy handwriting, _"Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business."_

Snape froze, Harry looked at it dumbfounded and Ness managed a whistle and said, "Surprisingly, the piece of paper has manners." Then he stifled a sharp gasp of laughter as more writing appeared, **"Mr. Progs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is a big ugly git."**

Ness covered his mouth and bit his tongue in a poor attempt to muffle the shock laughter trying to escape as a third message appeared, **_"Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor."_**

"I don't think you're an idiot sir." Ness offered, once his laughing fit had subsided, Snape ignored him as a fourth and final message appeared, _"Mr. Wormtails bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair out, the slimeball."_

Ness looked up from the map to check Snape's hair when Snape stood up, grabbed a fistful of glittering powder and headed for the fireplace muttering something under his breath. He threw the powder into the flames and yelled, "Lupin! I want a word!"

Dumbfounded, Ness watched, then stifled a yelp of terror as Professor Lupin climbed out of the fireplace, brushing ashes off his shabbier than usual robes and mildly looking up at Snape as he got to his feet, "You called, Severus?" Lupin questioned.

"I certainly did," Snape retorted, his voice wavering with little self-control and his face contorted in anger "I have just asked Potter to empty his pockets, and he was carrying THIS." Snape pointed to the parchment which now had only the names of the creators on it. Shining in mocking black ink.

Lupin stared at it with a half-closed expression and maybe… nostalgia?

"Well?" Snape questioned, waiting as Lupin said nothing, his eyes closing slightly as he collected his thoughts, "Well?" Snape repeated, "This parchment is plainly full of Dark magic."

"I thought it was a rude joke parchment." Ness admitted earning a glare from Snape before he continued, "This is supposed to be your area of expertise, Lupin. Where do you imagine Potter got such a thing?" Lupin looked up, gave them a half glance full of warning and said, "Dark magic? This just looks like a piece of parchment that insults anyone who reads it, childish? Yes. Dangerous? No, not really. I imagine Harry got it from a joke shop-,"

"Really?" Snape interrupted, "You think that Potter got it from a joke shop? You don't think that it may have come _directly from the manufacturers?"_

Harry looked at Ness for help, but Ness could only give him a blank look, equally confused by what Snape meant. "You mean, by Wormtail or one of these people?" Lupin questioned before he looked at them, Harry, Ness, do you know any of these men?"

"No." Harry said while Ness shrugged, "Unless Wormtail is that rope snake that likes to sunbath in my front yard, then I doubt I know him, or his friends."

"See Severus," Lupin said, turning back to Snape, "It looks like a Zonko-" his statement was quickly interrupted by Ron who burst into the office with a stitch in his side and out of breath, "I gave Harry that stuff ages ago, bought it from Zonko's…" before he doubled over to catch his breath.

"Well, that solves that." Lupin said cheerfully, "I'll be taking back." He said, folding the map and putting it in his pocket. "Now, Harry, Ron, come with me I want to have a word about my vampire essay." Harry and Ron quickly nodded and stood up, "Ness, you can come too, I would like to see how that Flipinedo spell is coming along."

"Sure." Ness said getting up and quickly following Lupin out of the Dragon den and back into freedom. The moment they were safely in the hallway Harry turned to Lupin to say something when he waved it away saying "I don't want to hear explanations." As he glanced around the empty hallway, "And yes, I know that the map was confiscated by Mr. Flich years ago, and yes, I know it's a map."

"I'm guessing you knew the manufacturers?" Ness questioned, Lupin hesitated for a fraction of a second before saying, "Vaguely, we were in the same year, and they often tried to convince me to fool around with them."

Ness nodded and opened to his mouth to ask another question when Lupin swiftly cut him off, or rather, Harry off, "And no Harry, you cannot have this back."

Harry slowly nodded in agreement then asked, "Why did Snape think I'd got the map from the manufacturers?"

"Because, they would have wanted to lure you out of the school for a prank, probably find it extremely entertaining." Lupin gave Harry a final look and said, "Don't expect me to cover up for you again, Harry. I can't make you take Sirius Black seriously, but I would a have thought that what you heard when the dementors draw near you would have had more of an effect on you."

Ness bit his lip to suppress his burning question about what Harry heard when those cloaked monsters drew and watched as Lupin walked off and Harry practically melted into the floor with shame. They walked to the marble staircase in silence, as they made their way toward the Gryffindor common room.

After a long, awkward silence Ron abruptly started to say, "It's my fault, I persuaded you to go. Lupin's right, it was stupid and we shouldn't've done it-," before he cut off and resumed looking at the ground, sensing Ness's "I told you so" glare. Which quickly disappeared when he noticed a grim looking Hermione walking toward them, a piece of parchment in her hands.

Ness slowed down then picked up the pace to ask her what was wrong when Ron noticed her and snapped, "Come to have a good gloat? Or have you just been to tell us."

"Shut up Ron." Ness ordered, startling the red haired Weasly, "If she did come to gloat then she earned it, but I don't think that gloating makes someone quietly cry in the library." He turned to Hermione and gently asked, "What's wrong Hermione?"

"It's Buckbeck." Hermione said, stifling a loud sniffle, "Hagrid lost the case… He's going to be executed." She held out the letter which Ron and Harry practically snatched out her hands in shock, slowly reading the damp letter before they looked up at Hermione. "They can't do this." Harry finally said, "They can't. Buckbeck isn't dangerous."

"Malfoy's dad frightened the Committee into it." Hermione sniffled, wiping her red eyes with her sleeve, "You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There'll be an appeal though, there always is. Only I can't see any hope… Nothing will have changed."

"Yeah it will." Ron said, a burning fire in his eyes as he continued, "You won't have to do it all the work alone this time, Hermione, I'll help." Ness smiled as he sensed the uneasy and angry tension between the two disappear as Hermione tackled Ron in a hug and broke down in loud sobs.

"Hey! I'll help too!" Ness offered, "Well, try to help, I'm not very good at researching, but I can provide a testimony."

Harry and Ron—who was looking terrified at the sobbing girl hugging him like a teddy bear, gave Ness a baffled look, "Ness, you weren't there when Malfoy was attacked." Harry said.

"No, but I can provide Buckbeck's side." Ness said, giving them a huge grin as he tapped his hat, "After all, I can hear animals, and I know how to make other people hear them."

"Y-you can do that?" Hermione asked, slowly recovering, "Yup! I had a conversation with him last Friday." Ness explained, "As long as I can convince him not to outright murder Malfoy's father then he should be able to defend himself."

"Oh thank you Ness!" Hermione said, tackling Ness in a brief hug before she turned back to Ron with a distraught look on her face, "And Ron, I'm really, really sorry about Scabbers."

"Oh—well-," Ron stammered, causing Ness to bite back a smile and turned around to inform his friends what had happened. When the reached the tower, he found Ginny, sitting on top of Selvis and pinning his arm behind his back, "Now then, what are you going to do?" Ginny questioned as Selvis squirmed and bucked the best he could, "Ness! Get her off of me!" Selvis yelped as Ness slowly edged into the room, "She's gone mad! Positively mad!"

"Luna… what happened?" Ness asked, Luna yawned and replied, "Well, while we were listening to what happened to Beckbuck Selvis made a vulgar comment about how the bird should die, which caused Ginny to attack Selvis and make him swear that he was going to help protect it."

"I don't want to walk around the school grounds knowing that _thing_ is somewhere!" Selvis complained, "It's a beast! A monster!"

"No it is not!" Ginny snapped, twisting his wrist, "Buckbeck is a proud Hippogriff! And we aren't going to let Malfoy have his way!"

"Ack! Ness! She's breaking my wrist! She's breaking it!"

"Okay, let's not break each others wrists." Ness advised gently tapping Ginny's shoulder until she lessened the pressure. "Where did you learn to do that?" Selvis whimpered, "I have six older brothers." Ginny said with a small huff, "I learned how to defend myself with or without magic."

"Dully noted."

Ness stifled a laugh and sat down, "Ginny, Selvis doesn't have to help us, after all, it's Slytherin's word against Gryffindor. He shouldn't have to betray his house over a proud Hippogriff."

"What about a five horned Zebro?" Luna asked, "That doesn't even exist!" Selvis snapped.

"It does to." Was all Luna said before Ness continued, "Besides, I plan on taking down that coward with or without help."

"What coward?" Ginny questioned while Selvis sullenly muttered, "I'm not a coward, I'm just forced to hang out with nut jobs."

"Draco Malfoy." Ness said, his voice wavering slightly with anger, "It's bad enough that he got Buckbeck in trouble for now owning up to his mistake, but now he's using someone's power to get revenge."

"Well, can you blame him?" Selvis slowly started, "No one's going to listen to a child's complaints. I don't know how you Americans handle law stuff, but your family background means everything."

"It does?" Ness questioned, "Of course! Status is everything! Selvis explained, "Why else do you think Draco, a third year has 6th and 7th years flocking to him like lost puppies? They want to get on his good side, they want to be part of the Malfoy domain just to get a small foothold into the _true_ realm of power."

"So why aren't you like that?" Ness asked, recalling how Selvis seemed to be always be alone even before Ness persuaded him to become friends with him, "Because I have much better things to do!" Selvis snapped, "I thought it was because your family made medical potions."

"And your loony of a father writes the Qubbiler!" Selvis retorted, his tan face flushing a bright red, "Wait… your parents own Med-Potions?" Ginny questioned.

"We also have a small publishing company." Selvis gloomily admitted causing the smug aura that always hovered over Selvis to quickly vanish, "It's not that big, but it allows us to have a more than modern home."

"So that's why your almost always by yourself." Ness realized, "Actually, I'm always by myself since I'm a snitch." Selvis corrected, "Now can we please focus on something else!? Something that isn't me?!"

"Sure, what should we talk about?" Ness asked as Ginny recently got off Selvis who huffed and rubbed his left arm, "Lupin _knew_ the manufactures of Harry's map." Sevlis said, "And Black was a huge trouble maker back in the day."

"Oh yea! James was the ring leader and Peter was the lackey." Luna recalled, "But… that's only three people accounted for."

Ginny nodded in agreement, "Meaning that there's one last person who may have ties with Peter."

"It's Lupin," Selvis smugly announced, "Has to be, he hesitated when Ness asked him about his relationship with those troublemakers."

"So Lupin knew Black when they were growing up," Ness said, slowly trying to make the new puzzle pieces fit, "Meaning that he probably knows the truth about who really killed James and Lily, and there's a chance that Lupin's letting him into the castle to exact revenge on their old friend."

"Lupin, Crookshanks and Black, what a lovely trio." Selvis mused.

"Hold on…" Luna started, "If Lupin really was working with Black then why does he sound so… pained when he spoke about the creators of the map?"

"I just heard a bad cover up." Selvis sniffed while Ginny thought back, "Maybe he doesn't know who really did it." Ginny finally said, "Maybe he suspects Black the same way everyone else does, but wants to believe that he's innocent, like Ness does."

"If that's true, then we should tell him what Black told me." Ness started, "And what if we're wrong?" Selvis questioned, "Then a teacher would suspect you as an helper to Black's schemes and get you expelled!"

Ness opened his mouth to argue then closed it, "Right, keep forgetting about the secret agent mission." Ness muttered.

"Let's think about it later." Ginny sighed, "It's getting late, and I don't want to get in trouble."

"I also keep forgetting that we're supposed to go to school." Ness muttered, as they bid each other good night and hurried to their dorm rooms, "Speaking of school." Ginny said, lowering her voice to a whisper as they scurried toward the eight floor hallway, "How are your headaches?"

"Dunno, I've been so busy focusing on protecting Harry and Black that I stopped faking magic." Ness admitted, slowing down as they approached the pacing trolls, "Can't tell if that's a good or a bad thing." Ginny muttered, "Probably a good thing since we have something else to worry about." Ness replied as he started to form ideas on how to defend a prideful Hippogriff.

* * *

The next few weeks leading up to the Qudditch finals, something Ness had contently forgotten about. Were very, very interesting. Now that they all knew about Selvis's magic rocks, Selvis had taken it upon himself to share any useful bit of information he heard, like the fact that Draco had gotten slapped by Granger after the Golden trio had overheard him laughing at Hadrig's grief induced class.

Or that Hermione had some sort of teleportation power that rendered her to miss certain classes, he even dug something up on a Luna's housemate, grudgingly telling her that a girl named Ramona Bean was hiding her shoes, socks and sometimes school books in a hidden passage way near the kitchen.

Luna had been overjoyed to learn about that, but everything else proved to be useless as Ness tried his best to visit Hadrig to convince Buckbeck to be on his best behavior and truthfully answer the judges answers when his appeal came. But thanks to the strict curfew and upgraded defenses, it was near impossible to visit him.

And, also because he had been forced to tail Harry every now and again as the upcoming battle between Gryffindor and Slytherin loomed closer, like all sports fan, they were desperate for their team to win, and Ness had seen some pretty bad fights against fans. Or, he thought he had as he noticed the jinxes, hexes and overall petty pranks that bloomed over the school as the bad blood between the two houses turned a simple school match into a battle to the death.

"This, is dumb." Ness grumbled as he and a group of other Gryffindors walked with Harry to his next class, protecting him from any serious attacks from their rival team, "Tell me about it." Ginny whispered, although, she seemed to be busy peering around the older kids as she searched for any rouge Slytherin's, "It's utterly ridiculous."

"And yet you're still looking around like a worried hen." Ness teased, earning a cold glare from Ginny.

The only good thing that came out of the roaring death match was how little sleep he was getting, normally this was a bad thing, but on the day of the big game Ness had woken up after dreaming of Selvis somehow making his threat of 'breaking Potter's legs with a dragon' come true and then turned the dragon onto Ginny for pinning him onto the ground for a good 20 minutes.

"Okay… I've gone insane." Ness deiced after he woke up in a panic and then realized that even if Selvis did find a dragon, he would be too chicken to ride it since he was terrified of magical beasts. "Heh… Selvis probably would have run screaming to the hills with the dragon chasing him the entire time…" Ness muttered as he climbed out of bed and checked the window to see what ridiculous time it was.

It wasn't too bad, since it was just five AM and the weather was remarkable clear, no clouds and no overhead, just the thin layer of snow that was melting away in the slow Spring heat. He was about to turn away and head back to bed when he spotted Crookshanks making his way toward the Whomping Willow.

"Huh… Never knew a cat liked murderous trees." Ness said as the cat suddenly stopped and allowed a giant, shaggy black dog to join him before he resumed walking toward the tree. Which was slowly coming to life, angrily swishing its thick branches in warning as Crookshanks easily slipped through and placed his paw on a small knot.

Causing the tree to grow still and limp. Satisfied the two animals crawled down a small hole, disappearing from sight as the tree stirred back to life.

"No way…" Ness gasped, all plans for watching the final Qudditch match flying out of his head as he tried to figure out how to mimic Crookshanks actions.

"Aw man… Now I can't sleep." Ness grumbled, "Oh well…" he opened his trunk and started to look around, trying to find a long object to use on the Whomping Willow.

Of course, the longest object he had in his possession was his wand, which Ness had already deemed useless and ignored for almost the entire school year. Before he make up his mind to raid Harry's broom closet, his fellow third years stirred awake and started to get ready for the big game, forcing Ness to hurriedly do the same and head for breakfast, which was bursting to the brim with sports pride. Every house except Slytherin was wearing scarlet rosettes, carrying scarlet flags with lions on them or had banners sporting cheesy lines of, "Go Gryffindor!" and "Lions For the Win!".

"Ow." Was all Ness could say as he looked at the Slytherin house, which were showing their support by hissing at the other houses and proudly brandishing green clothing and banners of their own. Ness even spotted Selvis happily whispering secrets to his housemates and offering homemade banners.

"This… is a bit crazy." Ness said as he sat down beside Ginny who was also sporting a rosette and eating breakfast as quickly as she could. She nodded her head in slight agreement as Ness made a small plate of toast and eggs. Sensing that there wasn't going to be much talking between them, Ness decided to focus on figuring out a way to get over to the Whomping Willow, now would be the perfect time since everyone was focused on the match.

But what if Harry needed him? Or if Dementors stormed the grounds and attacked the crowd for the last game of the season? Ness suppressed a sigh and shook his head, figuring out Crookshanks and that black dog's relationship should be his first priority, they were still a huge mystery, one that kept evading Ness as more and more problems appeared and demanded his attention.

So the moment he and the other Gryffindors headed for the stadium, Ness stepped to the side, pretending to tie his shoes as he dove behind a tree. Watching the oblivious crowd pass by him in an army march formation.

Once the path had cleared, Ness made a run for it, sprinting for the Whomping Willow as the stadium came to life with a loud roar of cheers, "Please let there be a stick to help me." Ness prayed as he approached the giant tree.

He jumped as a dreamy voice questioned, "Why on earth would you need a stick?"

"Gah! Luna!" Ness yelped as he spun around to see Luna wearing all red, looking like a crimson statue. "Hello Ness." Luna greeted, unfazed by his surprise, "Why are you out here? Did you lose something?"

"No, I saw Crookshanks and the black dog go underneath the tree, so I'm trying to figure out where they went." Ness explained, "You wouldn't happen to have a long stick to push that knot over there, would you?"

"Nope." Luna replied earning a small groan from Ness, "But, I do have good aim." To prove her point Luna took off a bright red shoe and hurled it at the knot Ness had pointed out.

With a shudder, the tree froze and resumed acting like a tree, "Dang! You could give Pat Willison a run for his money!" Ness whistled as Luna retrieved her shoe and sent him a baffled smile, "Baseball player." Ness deadpanned, before he pushed away a couple tree roots and slid into a small hole, "Ceiling's low Luna, so watch your step." Ness warned, knowing that Luna wouldn't back down from a new discovery.

"Odd… why is there a tunnel under a tree?" Luna mused as she joined him underground, "Don't know, I saw it on Harry's map, but now that I'm here…" Ness trailed off as the tunnel darkened, forcing him to pause and hold a hand up, "Fire Alpha." He muttered, summoning a small ball of fire in his hands so they could see a little bit, "Oh! Don't do that!" Luna warned, "You'll summon the Oxy pixies!"

"The what now?"

"Oxy pixies, they came and steal oxygen from miners so they can't breath." Luna explained, Ness slowly nodded then realized what Luna probably meant, "Right, flame off." Ness said, not wanting to burn out their low supple of air.

"So, what were you saying before?"

"Well, there was a tunnel that lead into Hogsmeade, but then they put a tree over it." Ness started.

"Ohhh… You're wondering if the tree has another purpose than to block it off since we're able to get inside." Luna realized, "Interesting."

"I wonder how long the tree's been here." Ness mused, "Oh! I see some light. And just in time." They crawled into a dusty room with smashed furniture and boarded up windows, the old walls were covered in stains while its wallpaper peeled away.

"Where are we…?" Ness whispered, feeling like he had just stepped inside a haunted house, "I think this is that 'Shrieking Shack' my housemates keep theorizing about." Luna replied, looking around the small room in awe.

They jumped as they heard someone move above them, causing the wooden boards to groan and creak in protest as they shuffled about, "Oh goodie… someone's here." Ness mumbled, he glanced at Luna who had here wand out and nodded at Ness before they started to make their way toward a rickety stairwell.

They slowly climbed it, the only sound being their pounding hearts the occasionally wooden groan from the shack, soon, after what felt like hours, they made it to the second-floor landing which was even more destroyed and dust covered than the room they had just been in.

Ness frowned as he noticed two sets of foot prints in front of them, a cat and a dog, which slowly morphed into two boot prints. Ness tapped Luna's shoulder and pointed to the floor, alerting her to the footprints, she studied them then mouthed, "Animagus." Before they continued inching along the hallway.

They jumped as a voice growled, "Where is he… he couldn't have gotten far." Which was answered by a low meow. Ness edged to the end of the hallway and peered inside another room full of destroyed furniture, inside, he could see a man dressed in all black with matted black hair. His back was turned to the two as he paced back and forth through the room.

Silently thinking about something. It wasn't long before the man finally stopped and banged his hands on a wobbly table, cursing loudly. It was then that Ness realized who the man was, "Sirius Black…" Ness whispered.

"So this is where he's been hiding out…" Luna murmured, they jumped Black froze, then suddenly turned toward the doorway, holding a broken wand in his hand, he roared, " _Impedimenta_!" hitting them both in the face.

"Ow…" Ness groaned as a message flashed through his blurred eyes, _"Paralyzed."_ It read, Ness tried to move his arms but they wouldn't respond, _"A very strong paralyzing attack too…"_ he realized as he was forced to look up at the rotting ceiling.

"You again?" Black rasped, "With a girl…" Ness mentally shivered as Black appeared in his line of sight, "How did you find me?" Black demanded.

"Cat. And you." Ness managed, before he deiced to try and heal himself from the status effect with Healing V. He bit back a sigh of relief as he felt his fingers respond and watched as Black disappeared from view, "So… How are you?" Ness asked, trying his best to look at Luna so he could free her as well. "Why do you care?" Black questioned, "In fact, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I care since we're sort of going after the same thing, you want Peter and I want to protect Harry, Luna's here since she didn't want to watch the final match between Slytherin and Gryffindor."

"Hello." Luna stiffly chirped. Black said nothing for a moment, prompting Ness to sigh and sit up, figuring the best way to get answers and more clues was to stop playing dumb. "What the—How did you escape?!" Black spluttered, backing up as Ness looked at Luna and performed Healing V once more.

"So that's what PSI feels like." Luna mused, wiggling her fingers and examining the back of her dirtied robe. "PSI?" Black questioned, now looking like a cornered animal, "Yup, I'm a PSI user, not a wizard." Ness explained, "I'm here to protect Harry or something."

Black studied him before he looked at Crookshanks and grumbled, "That's why you wanted me to talk to him." Crookshanks meowed in agreement and gave a low purr.

"So… If you're an Animagus. Is Peter one too?" Ness asked, Black hesitated briefly, prompting Luna to add, "If could tell us what animal Ness is supposed to be looking for, we could get this over with a lot faster."

Black growled then said, "He's a rat, always has been, always will be. He's disappeared after once again faking his own death, but I'll find him, I'll find the bloody bas-,"

"Peter is posing as Scabbers?" Ness interrupted, a cold weight settling in in his stomach, "Meaning that he could have attacked Harry at any possible time?"

"Yes, probably wanted to stay close in case his 'master' returned." Black spat. Ness and Luna exclaimed a look before they inched forward, "So what actually happened that night?" Luna asked, "Was Peter always working for You-No-Who? Or did he flee to the 'winning' side."

"Winning side." Black grumbled, then he snapped, "And stop calling him that ridiculous nickname, his name is Voldemort! Voldemort!"

"Right." Luna said, not skipping a beat as she continued questioning the 'mad man', "So Peter switched sides, faked his death, turned into a rat to hide from…?"

"Voldemort's supporters." Black grumbled, slowly realizing what Luna was doing, "They believed that he back stabbed Voldemort at the last moment by telling him about Potter's whereabouts only for him to die. I've heard them wailing about it in their prison cells, screaming about revenge as they went mad."

"Azkaban can turn people insane?" Ness questioned. Earning a curt glare from Black, "Of course, the Dementors hovering around you, sucking out what little happiness you have and watching as you wallow in despair and madness, it's hell on earth."

"And yet you're somehow sane…" Luna mused, smiling as Black sent her an even sharper curt glare, "I have my ways." Was all he said before he continued, "I pieced together where Peter was hiding from a newspaper showing the Weasly family in Egypt and planned to get revenge."

"By killing him." Ness deadpanned as the cold weight in his stomach turned into a brick of dry ice at the idea of murder. "Of course!" Black roar, "He killed James and Lily! He turned Harry into an orphan with no memory of his birth parents! It's only fair that he suffers the same fate!"

"And it's fair that Harry's Godfather goes back to jail with an actual crime on his record?" Ness shot back feeling unreasonable angry at Black's logic, earning a surprised look from Luna and Black, "I get it, you want to avenge your best friend, but by murdering someone you're just going to prove to Harry that you _are_ a monster!" Black blinked before his eyes narrowed into slits, "If that's the price I have to pay for justice, then so be it."

"Justice which could be achieved if we find Peter and turn him in." Ness argued, "We can prove that he's still alive, we can prove that you didn't hurt anyone! Just take a chill pill and think about what might happen to Harry if you use your escape from Azkaban for revenge when you have a chance to clear your name and become Harry's proper Godfather!"

"He has a point." Luna mused, sounding a bit surprised at Ness's sudden outburst, "I mean, I bet Harry would love to live with you instead of those muggles he lives with."

"Muggles…?" Black questioned, his anger slowly subsiding as he realized who Luna meant, "He's been staying with Lily's muggle sister?"

"Maybe." Luna shrugged, "Ginny sometimes mutters about how awful they've been to him when she thinks I'm searching for Lu-lu bugs."

"Lu-lu bugs? What are those?" Ness asked, "A type of bug that makes one's thinking utterly nutters and extremely hard to understand." Luna explained while Black blinked and muttered something under his breath.

"Huh… I wonder if Lu-lu bugs can lure out rats." Ness wondered.

"No, it only works on people."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Huh."

"Out." They jumped as Black gave them a cold look, "I need to think."

"About?" Luna questioned, but she stopped when she spotted his wand hand slowly twitching, "Never mind." Ness said, grabbing Luna's arm and turning around, "See ya later Sirius!" and before Black could argue that they weren't allowed to use his name Ness sprinted forward and pictured himself stepping into the library. Luna gave a short yelp as she stumbled forward and nearly collided with a bookcase, "Shush." Ness ordered, peering around a bookcase to ensure that the librarian hadn't heard them, "We're in a library."

Luna nodded and managed a queasy yet somehow still airy smile, "So that's what it feels to apperate with PSI." She managed before she slid onto the floor and steadied her breathing.

"If you saw so." Ness muttered, hoping that his small outburst was enough to sway Black's mind from murder to getting justice and watching over his best friend's son.

"You ready?" Ness asked, as Luna slowly got to her feet, "As ready as a Mirco Rat finding leese." Luna said.

"Okay then…" they casually left the library which was oddly empty and quiet and scurried to their dormitories, which was in full party mode Ness noted as he was greeted by even louder cheering and yells as the Gryffindor team happily stood in the center, shooting everyone beaming grins as Wood gave a speech about how wonderful it felt to finally beat Slytherin and reclaim the House Cup.

"I'm guessing we won?" Ness teased, stifling a laugh as Ginny jumped up and down, waving a mug in the air, "Ness! Where were you!?" Ginny demanded once she realized who was standing beside her, "You missed the best game ever!"

"Sorry, I was busy convincing someone." Ness said, looking around the packed common room, hoping that no one else had heard him.

"Who?" Ginny questioned. Ness frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets, "Oh, I dunno, just my favorite friend whose been wrongfully blamed." Ginny frowned, then realized what he meant.

She gasped and dragged him toward his dorm room, which was empty, "How did you find him?" Ginny whispered once they were safely hidden behind Ness's bed curtains, "I was following that black dog." Ness explained, careful to keep his voice low, "Turns out that Black was an Animagus, along with Peter for some unknown reason."

"Why? And was James one as well?"

"Not sure, Luna and I just tried to get what little answers we could. We know that Peter's a rat, Scabbers to be exact."

Ginny recoiled in horror and gasped, "Ron's been sleeping with a serial killer!? Merlin's beard!"

"A cowardly serial killer, turns out Peter isn't after Harry, at least not yet." Ness explained, "He seems to be hiding from Voldemort's followers, who blame him for their master's death."

"Makes sense." Ginny muttered, "If You-know-who's death was a fluke, Peter would be in prime position to get back into the higher ups."

"And if not, then Peter could simply pretend to be a rat for the rest of his life." Ness grumbled, "And no one has a clue as to where the rat's at."

"Maybe he's hiding outside the castle." Ginny suggested, "After all, if Crookshanks, a cat, couldn't sniff him out then he's probably in one of the outdoor classes."

"But which one? You know how many Herbology greenhouses there are, and we can't even check Hagrid's classroom since we're second years." Ness lamented.

"Well, look on the bright side, at least we know what animal he is." Ginny offered, "Now go to bed, you look like a mess."

"Might because I crawled through a dirt tunnel and was forced to lie on a dust covered floor." Ness teased before he shooed Ginny out of the room so he could change and get ready for bed. His mind somewhat at peace from hearing that Peter was more focused on hiding than attacking Harry.

For the next week, Ness felt a bit better about his hectic school year, even though he had exams coming up and Malfoy was back to swaggering like an idiot for some reason he didn't know. He took solace in the fact that Harry wasn't at the risk of being murdered by an old friend and tried his best to study.

And by study, he meant trying to read more than a paragraph in his books as Selvis smugly talked about how he was going to breeze through the exams thanks to his notes while everyone was struggling with their own prep work. They had tuned him out, expect Luna but that was because she had already finished her prep work and was idly poking a rock with her wand.

But of course, that bright yet still grim future shattered into pieces as Harry showed him a letter sent by Hadrig during a late night of studying at the Gryffindor common room, "Why are they bringing an executor?" Ness questioned, but his question was drowned out by the hushed whispers from the Trio. It wasn't too long until Ness realized the obvious answer. They planned to end Buckbeck's life right then and there. With or without hearing their desperate pleas.

When did school become so hard!?

* * *

 **Poor Ness, he can't seem to a catch break. And neither can I since I just realized I've been spelling Hagrid's name for for at least two chapters. Yaaaayyyy.**

 **Anyway! Thanks for the review Aszolle and Random Person! And don't worry Aszolle, I'll be working on this story for a long while since I type at least 10,000 words per chapter (And yet they still seem so short to read :/) and because I plan on going up to book seven with Ness and co. figuring out his purpose and making sure Harry doesn't get himself killed.  
**


	8. Chapter 8, To Free A Hippogriff

**From Level 1...**

* * *

A bad day was a bad day or rather, a bad week as exams happily swamped them with last minute studying, tests and then the tragic news Ness had heard as he hurried to his next exam with Ginny by his side.

They had accidentally bumped into Harry and his friends' moments after Harry and his friends had bumped into Fudge moments after their Defense Against the Dark Arts and discovered that the hearing was scheduled for this afternoon.

Something no one was properly prepared to hear about, all their hard work, advice messages he, Ginny, Luna, Selvis (Ginny threatened to pin him to the floor again if he didn't give Hagrid _some_ advice on what to say) and from the trio of mischief (Harry, Ron and Hermione, their newest nickname) had sent over the week of brain numbing questions and magical tasks they had to perform.

"You know, I think I liked it better when exams were just about writing in the answers and proving your work." Ness groaned as he leaned against the stone wall outside the Defense Against Dark Arts exam classroom, hoping that the cold wall would sooth his headache while Ginny tried to get a couple more minutes of studying in before they had to go in for the exam.

Ginny nodded in agreement and closed her book, sighing, "Honestly, I feel so unprepared for this."

"Me to." Ness admitted, feeling his headache turn into a migraine he tried to remember how he faked Flipendo before, "I hope Harry's doing better than us."

"Probably, since we wasted all our time trying to solve mysteries." Ginny muttered, closing her eyes for a moment before they snapped open in realization, "Oh! Speaking of mysteries, we should tell him the truth!"

It took Ness a couple moments before he realized what she meant, "Oh yea! I completely forgot about telling him." He admitted, feeling a bit guilty about not cluing Harry in on the Black activity. Although, in his defense he had just been acting on gut feelings and didn't exactly have coherent evidence to back his claims up.

"When should we tell? During break?" Ginny asked as a couple Ravenclaw students walked past them, their noses buried in their books as they too, tried to prepare for their next exam. "We'll tell him after dinner." Ness decided, "Or, try to since we have to cheer Hagrid on tonight."

"I hope they win." Ginny murmured as she shoved her book into her school bag and started for Defense Against Dark Arts with Ness trailing behind her. Although Ness hadn't paid to much attention to Professor Lupin during the school year, he knew that Lupin was an awesome teacher from how his housemates had gushed over his lessons and from the few activities he had performed in.

So, it was only natural that he had an awesome exam planned out for them. Or rather, an awesome obstacle course going over every monster, charm and spell they studied. Ness managed to get by thanks to his PSI and battle instincts while Ginny had a bit more trouble, getting lost thanks to a Hinkypinky in the marsh section.

"How did you get by that part?" Ginny asked as they sat down for dinner in slightly muddy robes, "I kept going in circles thanks to that Hinkypinky."

"I just did the opposite of what it told me." Ness said, scanning the dinner table for Harry, Ron and Hermione, "After all, if its lying to confuse people then you should do the opposite of what they're saying."

Ginny managed a small, "Huh," before she spotted them. "Oh! There they are! Over here! Harry!" Harry looked up and waved hello at them, but sat down near the end of the table, "Bother," Ginny grumbled as Ness said, "We'll just tell them after dinner." And started to eat a piece of steak.

But right after a semi normal dinner, Harry, Ron and Hermione were nowhere to be found. "Where did they go….?" Ginny questioned as they slowly made their way to the Gryffindor tower, lagging behind their classmates as they looked around, "It's not like they could disappear."

Ness thought about any possible reasons for Harry to disappear then face palmed, "They're going to visit Hagrid! That's why they disappeared!"

"Oh?" they jumped as Selvis appeared out of nowhere, "And who is this they?" he questioned, a questioning smirk on his face,

"Do you really have to ask?" Ness sighed, "And, why do you have a camera in your hands?"

"This piece of junk?" Selvis glanced down at the battered camera and shoved it into Ness's hands, " _That_ is to take pictures of the inside of the Shrieking Shack the next time you explore." Before Ness could protest Selvis spun on his heel and headed toward his common room, "Well that was bizarre." Ginny noted.

"Did he seriously follow us and risk getting in trouble just to give me this?" Ness wondered, examining the old relic, he frowned when he saw a small note taped to the back that said 'Yes, yes I did'

"Ginny, Selvis can predict the future." Ness said, before Ginny yanked him into an empty classroom.

"Shh! Filch is here." Ginny warned,

"Well, we better leave then," Ness with a small shrug, earning a baffled look from Ginny as he grabbed her hand and broke into a run, picturing himself and Ginny stepping out on the castle grounds near Hagrid's hut.

"W-what?" Ginny stammered as the world distorted around them, the castle walls faded and were replaced by colors of forest green and wood brown, before the world stabilized and they found themselves in Hagrid's garden. which was full of pumpkins and oddly enough, Buckbeck who was tethered to a fence.

"Um… Is Buckbeck usually outside?" Ginny asked sounding a bit dazed as she hesitantly inching behind Ness who waved hello to the Hippogriff and peeked through a foggy window. Where Hagrid, Ron, Harry and Hermione where.

"Darn, we got here too late." Ness muttered, "Oh well, what's up with you Buckbeck?" Buckbeck spared Ness a glance before he resumed eating some mice, _"Oh, nothing much, just sulking over my execution and the fact that I couldn't reach that rat."_

 _"Rat?"_ Ness questioned as he grabbed Ginny's hand, allowing her to join in the conversation, _"Hagrid has a rat in his house?"_

 _"Yes, and I can't reach it."_ Buckbeck grumbled, then he glared at Ginny who tensed and waited for his verdict, _"Whose she? You're mate?"_ Buckbeck questioned his eyes slowly narrowing, _"If by mate you mean friend, then yes, she is my friend."_

 _"N-nice to meet you,"_ Ginny started giving a short bow, _"I'm Ginny Weasly."_

 _"Oh, you're related to that carrot-top. Lovely."_ Buckbeck rumbled before he resumed pawing the ground, _"I'm guessing Hagrid wanted you to enjoy… the weather?"_ Ness questioned, a sinking feeling in his gut as he realized that theses would be Buckbeck's last moments.

 _"Yes… He wanted me to enjoy the outdoors one more time."_ Buckbeck solemnly replied, _"…I'll miss that giant oaf…"_

 _"Wait! Um, what if we can free you?"_ Ginny offered, they looked at her in surprise, _"That… is a rather kind gesture, but if I escaped then Hagrid would become the guilty party in a false crime."_ Buckbeck slowly said.

Ginny looked at Ness for a couple pleading moments who was slowly trying to figure out how Buckbeck could escape without Hagrid being blamed, _"Oh wait! What if I used my PSI powers?"_ Ness offered, _"I could use a small flame to burn the rope through so you can escape."_

 _"Hagrid would still be blamed for that,"_ Buckbeck grumbled.

 _"Not if the committee saw you_ _ **before**_ _you escaped and Hagrid was with them the entire time."_ Ness argued, praying that the gods of luck were on his side. Before Buckbeck could argue any further, they heard a muffled scream and ducked underneath Hagrid's window while Buckbeck stiffened.

"It's Scabbers!" they heard Hermione yell, sounding a bit shaken, "He was in the milk jug! Look!" there was an abrupt sound of chairs being knocked over, then a yell full of relief from Ron, "Scabbers! You're alive!" quickly followed by a pause and, "Wait, how did you get here?"

"He probably hide here when he realized Black was on his tail." Ness murmured, "Pretty impressive for a criminal."

"Shush! I hear something." Ginny said, straining to hear something, Ness frowned then froze when he the faint sound of footprints and a panicked Hagrid saying, "I'll lead yeh out the back way."

 _"You need to get out of here."_ Buckbeck said, grabbing Ness by the back of his shirt with his beck and forcefully tossed him him toward the forest, "R-right." Ness said stumbling slightly as Ginny shoved him into a nearby bush, just as Hagrid practically shoved the trio outside and closed the back door. They watched as Harry, Hermione and Ron left in a horrified trance. Not noticing how fidgety Buckbeck was acting.

 _"Did they see you yet?"_ Ness asked, once he was about to think over his pounding heart at how close they were to be caught. _"Well, one old biddy keeps peering out the window at me, I believe that counts as being seen."_ Buckbeck grumpily replied.

 _"Good! Hold still."_ Ness pointed at the rope and murmured Fire Alpha, praying that the small flame would just cause the rope to break, and not set the entire garden on fire.

"It worked!" Ginny squealed, clapping her hands over her mouth as Buckbeck pulled free, and sprinted for freedom, _"Good luck!"_ Ness mentally yelled as Buckbeck gave a prideful caw and disappeared into the darkness.

"What the!?" a voice spluttered as the back door flew open and a group of old men plus Hagrid and the Minister of Magic stumbled outside, "He mus' have freed himself!" Hagrid yelled, tears of happiness spilling down his face, "Good fer you Buckbeck! Good fer you!"

"Is that Dumbledore?" Ginny questioned as a man wearing a giant star covered hat walked outside, with a small smile of amusement on his face, "Someone must have freed him!" a man in a black robe snarled angrily looking around. they ducked behind the bush as the man with the hat mused, "Well, if someone did free him then they'd probably be long gone by now. I've heard that Hippogriff are very fast fliers."

"Mission accomplished." Ness mouthed as the executor yelled about searching the grounds just to be sure. He grabbed Ginny and sprinted forward, winching as the bushes made a soft rustle as they teleported back to the castle staircase.

"That was amazing!" Ginny exclaimed once they were sure that they were alone, "I honestly didn't think it would work." Ness said, then he joked, "Turns out I was being a bird- brain."

"Har-har." Ginny said, rolling her eyes before she looked around once more, "I wonder where Harry is?"

"Probably invisible." Ness guessed, "That way no one could see them sneaking away."

"True… So, they must be back at the castle then." Ginny mused, Ness nodded in agreement and started for the stairway, "I wonder what's Black's doing." Ness mused as they sneaked around the fidgety Dementors and checked over their shoulders to ensure that the Minister's men weren't behind them.

"Wait… if Black can turn into a dog then… shouldn't he be able to sniff out Scabbers now that Ron has him?"

Ness froze then looked at Ginny in shock, he had completely forgotten about Black's vow to murder Peter thanks to the wave of exams that exhausted everyone, he thought he had convinced Black to be reasonable, and turn him in if he did corner Peter but… If push comes to shove, Black's first action would be to kill Peter in a fit of rage rather than think through his choices.

"Ginny, we have to stop them." Ness decided, turning around and adjusting his hat, Ginny nodded in agreement and grabbed his hand, already prepared for the teleportation.

"And just, how do you plan to stop them?"

"Simple, by telling the truth-," Ness started when he realized that the question had been asked by an adult, a calm, Defense Against the Dark Arts adult named, Professor Lupin.

The only thing Ness could say was, "Ah." As he pictured the hours of scolding and punishment he and Ginny were going to get for sneaking out after hours.

"We can explain!" Ginny suddenly blurted out, earning a raised eyebrow from their teacher as Ness frantically nodded in agreement, "And this explanation as to why you are out during curfew is…?" Lupin questioned.

"Well, we first came outside to say good bye to Buckbeck, this awesome Hippogriff who was wrongly blamed but then-," Ness started when Ginny talked over him babbling, "We think Black is about to kidnap Harry or one of his friends to get revenge on Peter Petigrew! He is an Animagus for some unknown reason, but he used his magic to fake his death in order to escape Vol- You-Know-You's dead followers since he got Harry's parents killed and-,"

"But then we remembered that Black was going to go after Harry since I completely forgot that my 'don't do the wrong thing' speech might have gone over his head since he was mentally tortured for who knows how long and then-,"

"So we figured out what's going on and are on our way to stop them-,"

"Enough!" Lupin ordered, looking overwhelmed by Ginny and Ness's jumbled explanation, "How on earth did you piece this theory together?"

Ness took a deep breath and launched into the whole 'not a wizard but a PSI person' and how he had been on the lookout for Black ever since school started but didn't think he was really a serial killer and ended up proving his theory correct by discovering that he was after Peter not Harry.

"And that's why we're going to sneak out of school and head over to the giant tree." Ness finished.

"I… see…" Lupin said, still looking overwhelmed, "And here I thought…" he muttered when Ginny raised a trembling hand as if she was in class and not about to be sent to magical jail for breaking at least a thousand school rules "Err… Professor, if I could ask something, but, what are you doing outside?"

"I'm merely investigating something." Lupin coolly said.

"Which is…?" Ness prompted as something in the back of his mind bugged him, like why was Lupin even outside? He wasn't with Dumbledore's group and he didn't have a reason to help the search for Buckbeck, which was surely going on and wasn't Lupin ill tonight? It was the full moon after all—or it was about to be since the sun was slowly setting.

"I've noticed three other students heading toward the Whomping Willow, and I'm going to ensure that they don't do anything dumb." Lupin said, "Now go on, before I have the right mind to report you two to Dumbledore."

"Hold on, aren't you sick?" Ness questioned, "Tonight's the full moon, and aren't you allergic to the full moon or something?"

"Ness, people can't be allergic to the full moon." Ginny sighed.

"Well there has to be some reason he freaks out like a bad black and white movie character!" Ness protested, earning baffled looks from Ginny and Lupin, "Like those movies where the hero or villain transforms into this wolf monster!" Ness explained, "They all go—No! Not the moon—or whatever it turns them and-,"

"Professor Lupin isn't a werewolf, he's an Animagus" Ginny wearily retorted, " He probably came outside the reason we're out here, to stop Black from murdering someone."

Ness looked at Lupin and gasped when he saw the brief look of shock on Lupin's face before it was replaced by a calm frown, Ginny noticed the stunned expression and gasped, "I was right?"

"About?" Ness prompted, feeling extremely lost, "About Lupin being friends with Black! I just guessed since Black was an Animagus, along with Peter so I figured that James had to be one along with Lupin since he sounded like he knew James!"

"Huh… That makes sense." Ness mused, "So what animal are you Lupin?"

"Werewolf." Lupin deadpanned with a small sigh.

"…Ohhhh…" was all Ness could say as everything over the past year clicked.

"Yes, that is why I've disappeared every full moon." Lupin answered, "I believe Hermione Granger has already come to that conclusion already."

"So those potions you've been taking haven't been poisons?" Ginny questioned, "No, they were made so I could easily take control of my werewolf form and curl up somewhere from prying eyes." Lupin explained, "It was one of my many requirements Dumbledore had to put in order for me to work here without getting attacked by the other teachers."

"They didn't want a werewolf to teach Defense against the Dark Arts?" Ness questioned,

"Well, it makes sense when you remember that Werewolves are almost as dangerous as vampires since they can turn people." Ginny reminded him, then she cringed and hurriedly said, "No offense Professor."

"None taken, it's merely how the world works." Lupin said, waving away her apology, "Now come on, we have a 'serial' killer to stop." Ginny nodded and fell into step behind Lupin before Ness realized something, "Wait, did you take that potion?"

Lupin froze then kept moving, "No, but we need to hurry before-,"

"No," Ness said, "We're heading to your office and then we're getting to the Shrieking Shack." Ginny frowned then realized what Ness planned to do, "Right," she said grabbing Ness's hand and offering Lupin her own.

"By the time we get to my office Black probably would have done something irreversible by now, besides, the potion only works if I take it a week before the full moon." Lupin protested.

"True, but you have a PSI user on your side." Ness said, with a small grin, "One who can teleport around the school without getting in trouble and use healing Psi to clear up status effects." Lupin frowned slightly then sighed, "Fine, but I doubt it will work."

"Doesn't hurt to try!" Ness chirped as he teleported them to Lupin's office for a potion and possibly last minute supplies. Knowing Black someone was bound to be hurt at this point...

* * *

 **I hate writing short chapters T_T It's just so... Short! Mehh... At least I can make up for it next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9 The Time Of Freedom

**To level 100! :)**

* * *

"Going to kill me, Harry?" Black whispered, eyeing the wand pointed at his heart as Harry loomed over him. Harry's eyes were cold with anger as he studied the battered and bloodied coward of a man under his foot. "You killed my parents." Was all Harry could say as he tried to find a spell that would end Black's miserable life once and for all.

Then again, he didn't need a spell, he could simply plunge his wand into Black's chest and get it over with, "I don't deny it." Black started to say, his voice quiet and low, "But if you knew the whole story-..." Before the murderer could finish, there was a loud thud from downstairs, as if someone had crashed into a piece of furniture.

The sudden noise prompted Hermione to scream. "WE'RE UP HERE—WITH SIRIUS BLACK—HURRY!" Summoning three sets of footsteps, as people pounded up the stairs and threw the bedroom door open.

Harry blinked in surprise as Ness, Ginny and Lupin entered the room, wands out and their eyes hastily scanning the room, as if making sure that everyone was alive, "Ness? Ginny? What are you doing here?" Harry questioned, as Ginny rushed to Ron's side.

"We're here to make sure that no on dies!" Ness proclaimed, "And thankfully, no one's dead."

"Yet," Lupin corrected before he yelled, " _Expliarmous!"_ and caught Harry's wand, allowing Black to breath a bit easier.

"There, now we might be able to-," Lupin started to say when Hermione gasped.

"It can't be…" prompting Harry to look at her with confusion.

"Y…you're all working with Black, aren't you?"

"No, we're not-," Ginny started to say when Hermione cut her off, sounding emotional unstable, "Here I was—covering for you only to find out-,"

"Hermione, listen, we have this all backwards." Ness said, holding his hands up in a poor attempt to calm Hermione down.

"No! I have this perfectly straight!" Hermione yelled, "Lupin's working with Black since they were pals in school! And he's taken advantage of your status of being a powerful wizard to ensure that nothing goes wrong!"

Harry looked at Ness in disbelief as he suddenly remembered how strange Ness had acted after Hogsmeade and how he distanced himself from the group, was that real the reason? Was Ness somehow working with Lupin and Black? Which somehow involved Ginny?

He jumped as Ness said, "Wrong." And put his hands behind his head as he calmly said, "I'm not a wizard, but I have been working with Black."

"Then-," Ron started to say when Ness cut him off, "I've been working with Black to ensure that he doesn't go back to jail with a false crime coupled with a real murder."

"False… crime?" Hermione repeated before she stammered, "But Lupin's a werewolf, that's why Black's an Animagus…"

"That part's true." Lupin said, "But unlike Ness, I've barely been in contact with Black, believing that he was the real culprit like everyone else."

"I… don't understand." Harry said as Black slowly sat up.

"Because you don't have the full story." Ness said, "Well, none of us do since I don't really understand how Peter was able to sell Harry's parents out."

"Peter…?" Harry questioned the name sounding vaguely familiar, "As in Peter Petigrew? The man who was killed?"

"Yes, he's the real villain behind this entire mess." Ginny answered before she frowned and looked at Ron, "What on earth did you do to your leg?"

"I didn't do it! He did!" Ron grunted, pointing at Black who growled, "I was only trying to get to him!"

"Who is him!?" Harry demanded, his anger slowly returning, "What is going on!? Why are you and Black Animagus?! How did you even know where to find us?!"

"I figured out that Black was going to attack you guys when we heard that you found Peter." Ness explained earning a hysterical yell of, "There's no one named Peter here!" from Hermione.

"I used the Marauders Map and Ness and Ginny brought me here." Lupin explained, "You know-," Harry started to say when Lupin interrupted him, "I know, because I helped create it, I'm Moony."

"So is Black Padfoot?" Ginny questioned, earning a nod from Black, "We all chose nicknames representing our Animagus forms."

"Oh yea…" Ness murmured as something slowly clicked, Prongs and Wormtail… His dad was best friends with Black and Peter, and now it was clear that Lupin had been pals with the trio but why did they become Animagus?

"James, Sirius and Peter became Animagus because of my condition, something Hermione pieced together during the school year." Lupin started.

"That… you're a werewolf?" Harry questioned, a small lump forming in his stomach.

"Yes, I was bitten as a young child, during the time when being a werewolf was certain death since there was no proper cure. Despite this, Dumbledore still invited me to Hogswarts to study, he even created a safe-house for me to hide in when the full moon rose." Lupin gestured around the room, "The safe house, is of course this very building."

"No it's not." Ron weakly said as Ness slowly healed his leg, "It's haunted."

"By a werewolf." Lupin said, "Dumbledore created the tunnel, placed the Whomping Willow over it and then created rumors about it being haunted so that everyone would stay away."

"So that prank that nearly killed Snape was Sirius and Peter tricking him into getting into the Shrieking Shack when you transformed." Ginny realized, "That's why he was so upset!"

"Yes, it was a very dumb idea for a prank. Since Snape ended up seeing what I really was." Lupin said, glaring at Black who was petting Crookshanks.

"What?" Black said, "Not my fault the git wouldn't stop hounding us every month. I just gave him what he wanted,"

"True, but you didn't need to nearly murder him. It's a miracle James decided to stop him before I killed him." Lupin retorted before he resumed explaining, "James and the other figured out where I was going on and taught themselves to turn into Animagus so they could keep me company without putting themselves in danger. This went against everything Dumbledore had risked in order to allow me to stay but… It was nice having friends around… Despite the guilt it left me over the years."

Lupin briefly paused before he continued, looking a pained. "I never told Dumbledore about Sirius being an Animagus, even now, I've have yet to tell him, cowardly, I know, but the thought of admitting that I broke the school's trust even before Dumbledore offered me my first paying job was something I sadly couldn't bring myself to face."

Lupin said, his face hardening with shame and self-loathing, "So, I convinced myself that Sirius being an Animagus had nothing to do with me, that Voldemort taught him that trick when he first signed up… In a way, Snape's been right about me all along."

"What do you mean, 'Snape's been right all along?'" Black questioned, "That git is probably off making a fool of himself."

"Actually, he's the potion's teacher who hates Harry's guts." Ness pointed out, "I think he hates me as well since I foiled his plot of getting Harry suspended."

"Expelled." Ginny corrected, while Black scowled and grumbled, "Of course he's here, the whole gang's practically here."

"So… Any more questions?" Ness asked once he was sure that Lupin was done speaking, "Besides the glaring obvious question of how Black got out of a Level 10 jail."

"I have a question. How will Dumbledore react to discovering that five of his students including a teacher, have been assisting a known murderer?" Harry felt his stomach turn cold as Snap turned visible, dropping his Father' cloak onto the ground as he pointed his wand at Lupin who took a step back in surprise at Snape's sudden appearance.

"Found _this_ ," Snape said stepping on top the invisibility cloak like it was a bud underneath his foot, "At the base of the Whomping Willow, very useful… I thank you for that Potter." Harry suppressed a growl as Snape he slowly surveyed, "I bet you're all wondering how I knew where you _traitors_ were, hmm?"

"No, we're just here wondering on what party game we're going to play next." Ness said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Now is not the time." Ginny shakily hissed as Snape glared at him, "It was quite ironic actually, I had just turned around to leave Professor Lupin's office after dropping off his wolf bane potion when Lupin and two Gryffindor students suddenly fell from the sky talking about stopping someone from getting killed in the Shrieking Shack before they disappeared again."

"I thought something was off." Lupin softly mused as Ness and Ginny shared grim looks.

"Yes, but sadly my claims went unheard." Snape said, his face trying—and failing to mask a look of pure triumph, "I've told the headmaster again and again that you were helping your old friend, and here you are, caught in the act with five trouble makers as your partners."

"We are not trouble makers." Ness grumbled as Lupin stepped forward, "Severus, you have this all wrong Black isn't here to-,"

"Two more for Azakaban." Snape interrupted, his eyes coldly lingering on Black and Lupin before it settled on Harry on his friends, "And five students expelled, I can only wonder how Dumbledore shall react to this… Especially since he worked so hard to get a _tame_ werewolf and a supposedly _gifted_ student from America to join Hogwarts"

"Oh, _now_ someone else believes me." Ness grumbled.

"Professor Snape, Black's innocent, it's a misunderstanding please just ..." Ginny started to say when a loud bang cut her off.

Harry stifled a yell of surprise as thin snake like cords shot toward them bounding their wrists and ankles together and connecting with other cords which eventually tied everyone in the room together with a faint snap.

Hermione opened her mouth to plead, perhaps even beg but the ropes quickly gagged them, rendering them mute. "Now then… I can't exactly execute five students, but I'm sure Dumbledore can look over a Dementor's kiss." Or rather, kisses. Snape said, his eyes full of malice. Ginny gave a muffled yell of anger as Black tried to say something through his gag.

Harry could only look ahead, the cold feeling transforming into a wave of mixed emotions, guilt, anger for forgetting the cloak and fear. He had wanted Black, and Black alone to face the Dementors' wrath for killing his parents, in fact, he himself had nearly killed the man!

But now, seeing a severely unstable Snape proclaim Lupin and Black's death was sickening. And it was even worse since everyone was going to be punished for his mistake. For a moment, there was only the sound of Snape moving around, forcing everyone to stand while Scabbers made loud, panicked squeaks then there was a magically ripple.

The ripple was so powerful that it slammed into Snape and sent him tumbling into a wall before he slumped to the ground, clutching his head in pain. For a brief second, the ropes shivered then disappeared, allowing them to quickly separated and rub their wrists, "That was lucky." Ness noted as Lupin grabbed his discarded wand and pointed it at Snape, " _Stupify!"_ stunning him.

"We are going to be in so much trouble…" Hermione whimpered as Black gave his two cents on being tied up and smashed a rotting piece of wood over Snape's head, effectively knocking him out.

"Now then, can we please get this over with it?" Black snarled, "Boy, hand. Over. The. Rat." Ron paled slightly but managed a bold, "And why should I? Even if Peter Petigrew _is_ Scabbers, how did you know where to look?"

"And break out of jail without being a complete nut job." Ginny prompted.

"Yes, how did you know where Peter was?" Lupin questioned,

"Newspaper… I saw him on the front cover." Black said, "I pieced everything together when I saw his missing pinky toe-he cut his own off right before he faked his death-and I escaped by staying a dog, for some reason Dementors can't pick up animal feelings, so they ignored me, even after I had slipped through my jail cell bars and swam toward land."

"So when you were mumbling, 'He's at Hogwarts,' you were talking about Peter?" Ginny questioned. Black nodded and glared at Ron, "Now then, hand. Over. The. Rat. We've wasted too much time standing around jabbering!"

Lupin slowly nodded in agreement and looked at Ron who was looking around at his friends, Harry could only blankly return Ron's look of panic as his mind spun one part was still reeling as some of Ness's story and Black's true motive made a fraction of sense while the other part was running around in frantic circles, trying to find a plausible reason behind… everything, this entire year suddenly just didn't make sense.

He jumped as Lupin said, "Now, now, there is a chance that we may all be wrong, but we don't know for sure until I check."

"And just how will you check?" Hermione asked.

"With a simple spell, if he is a rat then it won't hurt him, but if he is indeed an Animagus well…" Lupin trailed off and sent Scabbers a look, "It will be somewhat painful."

"Not that it will matter." Black growled, hinting toward a much more violent way to prove that he was right, what that way was, Harry had no idea nor did he want to know.

"F…fine." Ron finally said, "But your wrong! Scabbers isn't Peter Petigrew, he's Scabbers!" Ness and Ginny sent him a pained look as he spoke while Lupin carefully accepted the frightened rat and pointed his wand at it, with a flash of blue light, Lupin dropped Scabbers onto the floor and took a step back, watching as Scabbers started to rapidly change.

"Oh geez!" Ness exclaimed as Scabbers transformed into a former shell of a man, with colorless hair, rat like skin and panicked beady eyes that darted around the room, examining his captors with a grim look.

"Hello Peter." Lupin calmly said, "Long time no see."

"R-Remus, Sirius…" the man—Peter to be exact squeaked, "My old… friends… my old, dear friends…"

"Black." Ness warned as Black's wand hand jerked up, his eyes glazed with rage, if Lupin hadn't grabbed his arm and lowered it Harry was sure that Peter would be a pile of ash at their feet.

"Yes, _dear_ friends." Black spat, "Just like our other dear friend, James."

Terrified, Peter scooted over to Lupin who merely gave him a dirty look, "R-remus… he tried to kill me… you… you don't believe him… do you?"

"Depends, after all, we haven't heard your side of the story." Lupin said, his voice still calm, but it had an even edge to it, "Yea, like why was Black after you in the first place?" Ness questioned, startling Harry with how calm—no, curious yet in a positive tone.

Peter flinched and looked at Ness in horror, staring right at Ness's coal black eyes as if hypnotized by them, "I kn-knew because he would come back, wanting revenge for how I-I nearly foiled his master's plan!" Peter shakily said.

"He's a terrible liar…." Ginny muttered while Harry looked at Black for an explanation, "Don't look at me." He said with a small shrug, "The only thing I ruined was giving Peter the role of being a secret keeper after I panicked and deemed myself unworthy to guard James and Lily's new home."

"So Black foils Voldemort-," Ness started to say when Peter violently flinched at the name, "By giving you, a suck up and a coward, a golden ticket to get on Voldemort's side."

"Ness does have a point." Lupin said, "After all, Voldemort's plan was to kill Harry before he resumed his rampage on the wizarding world."

"Y-yes! But I discovered that Black was his spy! His trusted alley!" Peter stammered, Black barked a laugh and shook his head, "Oh please! Why would I serve under Voldemort? I'd rather go back to Azakaban then serve _him."_

"L-liar!" Peter spat, although he looked sick to his stomach and out of words.

"Enough is enough." Black snarled, "Let me just end this weasel's life before something else interrupts us!"

"Kill him and you'll wind up back at square one Black." Ness warned as Peter screamed a little and shrank into a little ball as Lupin frowned at Black, "Sirius, let's think this through, we can clear your name and prove to the world that you were framed."

"But he wasn't framed!" Peter screeched, "He set himself up for his downfall after his master died!"

Black glowered at Peter and opened his mouth to yell something when Ness interrupted them, "While this is a nice little maze of questions, I just have to wonder, if you knew that you were innocent and that Black was going to come after you, then why not go into protective services or something? Why hide out as a rat in the most convenient place in the world to get back on Voldemort's good side if he ever came back?"

"Protective… services?" Ron questioned, "What's that?"

"It's a government service where people who have been known to tangle with dangerous criminals or was a core piece of an investigation was promised protection in case someone came after them." Ness explained, "Surely, Boston has something like that as well."

Harry looked at Peter, although he had a sinking feeling that he knew the answer as Peter squirmed and wildly eyed the door and boarded windows, trying to form an escape plan, "Well, I think we've heard enough." Lupin said, "All in favor of voting Peter Petigrew guilty and _not_ killing him?"

"Aye!" Ginny and Ness chirped as Black grumbled, "I'm still going to kill him." While Hermione and Ron looked at Harry for an answer, after all his revenge was originally aimed at Black, but now… everything was pointing toward Peter who was indeed a suck up and a coward like Ness had pointed out.

And it made a bit more sense why Peter could arrange for his parents to be murdered then Black, his father's best friend.

"A…aye." Harry finally said, feeling utterly exhauseted, "But… we aren't going to kill him." Black growled, paused then spat, "Fine." Ness, Ginny and Lupin sent him proud smiles.

"Y-you aren't going to ki-kill me?" Peter stammered, "T…then what are you going to do with me?"

"Take you up to the castle and clear Black's name I suppose." Lupin said, nodding his head at Black who used Ron's wand to tie Peter up with thin ropes, "Wh-plea- no!" Peter stammered, to terrified to form a cohert sentence as Black attached Peter to Snape who was still knocked out cold and then to himself.

"Ron, can you stand?" Ness asked as Ginny stood up and dusted her robe off, "Sort of." Ron grunted slowly forcing himself to stand up, "I think I'll live." Hermione quickly went to his side to help while Lupin took a step back, watching the progress with a calm expression.

"Professor, aren't you coming along?" Harry questioned as Black magiced Snape onto a stretcher and started for the door, with Ginny Hermione and Ron following him. Lupin shook his head no and merely said, "I think it would benefit everyone if I stayed here."

"If… you say so." Harry said, as Ness chirped, "Come on Harry, we have a Godfather to prove innocent."

 _"Godfather…?"_ Harry thought before he realized that Ness meant, how on earth could he had forgotten that small critical bit of information?" His mind started to spin as he pictured himself, possibly living with Black who seemed ten times better than the Dursley's which was saying something since they were innocent civilians while Black was a somewhat delusion man.

"You know, that went better than I thought it would." Ness murmured as they crawled back through the Whomping Willow, where Crookshanks was waiting, where the cat had been in the chaos was beyond Harry. He was just glad that everything was slowing down so he could think properly.

And wonder about the few questions that had been bugging him, like how Ness could teleport from Lupin's office to the Shrieking Shack, or why Snape had suddenly recoiled in pain, allowing Lupin and Black to fight back.

But before he could voice his questions they emerged from the tunnel and into a moonlight courtyard, "So that's why he hung back." Hermione muttered as she spotted the full moon. Harry nodded in agreement and followed Black who slowly lead them back toward the castle.

"You know, after all this craziness, it's nice to see things looking up for us." Ness commented, grinning as he scanned the grounds, "Black's going to be freed, you're going to have a godfather and I can stop having migraines!"

"Yea…" Harry said, glancing behind him to send Ness a smile when a loud voice yelled, "There! Over there!" shattering the quiet night.

"The executors!" Ginny gasped, "Why are they still out?!"

"Move!" Black ordered as a flare flew into the sky, summoning the executor's friends to their location, "Me and my big mouth." Ness groaned as an azure colored spell flew over their heads, forcing them to duck and keep low to the ground as more spells flew overhead.

Harry felt his heart freeze as he heard Black gave a muffled yell of pain followed by a woozy, hate filled voice hissing, "No one, is going anywhere!" Of course, Snape had chosen the perfect moment to wake up and attack. Of course,

"F-freedom!" Peter yelped as the spell burned the thin rope, allowing him to shapeshift back into a rat and sprint for the woods where he would disappear forever.

"Stop that rat!" Harry ordered his mind temporally forgetting about the fact that Snape had woken up and that they were under fire. "Stop them!" someone yelled as more spells flew overhead, some narrowly missing Harry as he bobbed and weaved, trying to mimic Peter's frantic movements.

"Al…most…" Harry said, his lungs burning as they neared the Forbidden Forest, with a burst of energy Harry flew forward and suppressed a yell as Peter shot forward and disappeared into the tangled vines, leaving Harry in a small clearing surrounded by trees.

"No…" Harry groaned.

"Did you…? Someone panted, causing Harry to start and turn around and see Ness and Hermione both thoroughly winded.

"He got away…" Harry said, a rush of guilt weighing him down even further as Hermione suppressed a gasp, "Great, one of the only things that could have freed Black is gone." Ness grumbled.

"One of only?" Harry questioned with a small frown, "Yea, a friend gave me a camera to send pictures from home." Ness explained, pulling out a small yet bulky camera out of his robe pocket, "While Peter was busy having a stutter attack at the Screeching Shack I took a couple pictures."

"Proof that Peter's actually alive." Hermione realized, "Ness! You're a genius!"

"Uh… thanks? I just wanted a backup plan." Ness said, looking a little flustered, "Now come on, we have a punishment to-," he froze and looked around, "Is something wrong?" Hermione asked as Harry felt a clammy cold ensnare his heart.

"Dementors." He gasped, "Th-the commotion and chaos must have attracted them."

"Lucky us." Ness said as at least 20 Dementors glided into the clear, forming a tight circle around them.

"Think of something happy!" Harry ordered as he pulled his wand out and started chanting Expecto Patronum while he racked his brain for happy memories. But the shocking news and abrupt meeting in the Screeching Shack had left his brain a mess of jumbled emotions.

His heart started to pound as he heard his mother scream, pleading for Voldemort to spare him. " _E-expecto Patronum!"_ Harry yelled stabbing his wand at the monsters as faint wisps of smoke appeared, doing nothing to drown the screams that were slowly drowning out other noise.

"Back off creeps!" Ness seemed to yell but his voice sounded like he was underwater. Harry caught a flash of bright light but didn't dare turn his head to see what it was as his knees started to buckle.

"H…ar…" someone—No, Hermione gasped as she fell, the closing circles of Dementors becoming too much for her. "Hermione think happy!" Harry tried but his voice died when the closest Dementor reached up with slimly grey hands and started to remove its hood.

 _"A dementor's kiss is fatal."_ Harry recalled, the thought bouncing around in his scream filled head, _"They remove ones soul… A fate worse than death…"_

"I'm fine." Harry tried, as the flares of light became much more noticeable followed by a loud thunder of… rock n roll? Where was that coming from? And why was it just as loud as his mother's screaming? Before Harry could find something positive about the distraction he felt his mind scatter into shards of glass and fell to the forest floor.

"N…ness!" Harry yelled his but voice was barely above a whisper as the mental torture finally got to him, the last thing he remembered seeing was a bright light which turned into a stag, that flew from a bush abandoning a tall man with black hair to dance around the fallen trio. "Who… are…?" Harry tried to ask but he fell unconscious, left to the mercy of those soul sucking monsters and the dancing stag…

* * *

It's… impressive! But….How did…?...A… charm? That dastardly….!

"Whoever is talking… go away." Ness grumbled, slowly opening his eyes. "Wait… this isn't the woods." For some reason, he was in the hospital ward and was tucked under some boring cream white blankets.

Even in the dim lighting he could make out a thick white curtain to his right and the nurse's office on his left. People were outside the room walking away as they talked about something… But what was it? Ness only grabbed bits in pieces in his sleep daze but what good would a charm be? There weren't only good luck charms on the school grounds.

 _"Well, whatever their talking about can wait."_ Ness decided, _"I need to figure out what happened."_ He remembered facing the Dementors and blasting them with fire attacks only to see his flames die out with every blast. He had been too panicky and unable to focus on burning emotions as he recalled the battle between Giygas and Porky, and how hopeless everything felt as he and his friends tried to beat them with force.

Sure, the memory wasn't as severe as Harry's but it had rattled him a bit as the monsters closed in, not slowing down as Hermione fainted. He remembered using Rockin Alpha and hearing Harry give a yell of pain as Ness accidentally included him in the attack.

But after that everything got… fuzzy. He could only remember a flash of ghostly white and for some reason, his baseball cap off in the distance.

"Weird…" he grumbled slowly lying back down and closing his eyes as his migraine returned. He jumped as the curtain was abruptly moved aside. Panicked, he faked sleep which wasn't too hard to do since he felt tired.

When the noise decreased and he was sure that whomever was there had gone he opened his eyes and looked to his right to see Hermione looking up at the ceiling with petrified eyes.

"Herm-," he started to say when Hermione gave a tiny, "Shush." And gestured toward the door, where the people had returned, resuming their conversation.

It was faint, but Ness could get the gust of it, Black had been captured thanks to Snape and the executors who had stayed out to search for Buckbeak-who was probably lone gone by now, and Snape had retrieved him, Hermione and Harry after the Dementors fled.

He jumped as Madam Pomfrey returned and placed a large piece of chocolate onto his bedside table, "Awake, now are we?" Madam Pomfrey said bustling over to give Hermione and Harry a piece of chocolate as well, "Although, I suppose it's no surprise considering the chaos that happened." She grumbled, "Honestly! The minister's men blasting children with jinxes and Dementors trying to murder children. Can't wait for this blasted mess to be over."

"Jinxed? Who got jinxed?" Ness questioned as he sat up, "Ginny and Ron Weasly." Madam Pomfrey briskly answered, "Thankfully it wasn't anything to lethal, just a backwards jinx and a boundary spell."

"So, they'll be alright?" Hermione questioned, "Yes, they'll be just fine with a good night's sleep, which you all need." Madam Pomfrey replied, now sounding soothing.

"And uh, what will happen to Sirius Black?" Ness questioned, although Harry already seemed to know the answer since he was putting his glasses on and getting ready to get out of bed, "He'll be getting the Dementor's kiss any moment now—Potter, what are you doing?." Madam Pomfrey questioned, giving him a stern look.

"I need to see the headmaster." Harry bluntly said, his voice slurring slightly, probably an after-effect from Ness's attack.

"WE, need to see the headmaster." Ness corrected climbing out of bed and reaching for his robe pocket, only to find that he was just wearing his blue and yellow striped sweater (You can't go wrong with blue and yellow after all) and his jeans, "Where's my robe?" Ness questioned.

"In the wash, it was covered with soot stains." Madam Pomfrey said, "Now get back in bed! You need to rest!"

"We need to speak to Dumbledore!" Harry protested, "Black's innocent!"

"Yea! I even took pictures with a camera that shows the _real_ culprit behind this whole mess!" Ness said, "What camera?" Madam Pomfrey said before she grabbed Harry and tried to guide him back to bed, "It was in my robe—the one being washed." Ness explained, a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Your robe pockets were completely empty when they found you—Harry, back into bed!"

"Empty? Oh noooo…" Ness groaned as Harry started to struggle, "Madam Pomfrey please! Dumbledore has to hear the truth!" Hermione pleaded, "And he has my dear, now focus on getting some sleep!" the nurse insisted as she started to forcefully push Harry into bed.

"He's innocent!" Harry argued as the door opened, revealing Snape and the Minister, "Good heavens, what's going on?" the Minister questioned as Snape sent them a cold look, Ness and Hermione quickly tried to explain what had really happen while Harry yelled, "Black's innocent! It was Peter! He faked his death!"

"Yea! He's an Animagus!" Ness prompted, quickly joining Harry's side as Madam Pomfrey gave up and went to get her wand, muttering about how much trouble Dementors could be.

"See? Confounded charm, just like I told you." Snape murmured to the Minster who gravely nodded in agreement, "We are not confused!" Ness snapped, "Especially not me since I spent a good year playing detective trying to figure out what the heck is going on!"

"A very powerful Confounded charm." The Minister noted before he looked at the room Pomfrey had gone into, "Do you have any Restoration Potions Poppy?"

"A couple." She answered, her voice muffled as she opened a cabinet for something, "Now leave! You're distressing my patients!"

"I'm about to distress someone if they don't listen." Ness darkly muttered, his patience for overwhelming events on its last legs as he realized Snape's ruse.

"We were all their Minister." Hermione tried, "Even Ginny and Ron can testify just please put the kiss of until-,"

"Now, now!" the Minister said, giving them all a reassuring smile, "By morning you'll come to your senses about this whole mess."

"But we're already at our senses!" Ness and Harry angrily snapped, sharing brief looks of surprise as Madam Pomfrey returned, "Out!" she ordered pointing Snape and the Minister toward the door, "All your doing is making the mess worse, so leave! And as for you three!"

Ness stifled a groan but huffily got back into the hospital bed and saw that Hermione did the same, maybe they could sneak out later and break Black out, although that would just make more-, "Dumbledore! Sirius Black is-!" Harry started to say as the door opened which had indeed been opened by the headmaster.

"Oh for the love of-," Madam Pomfrey started to grumble as she finally shoved Harry's chocolate into his mouth and pushed him into bed. Sadly, her efforts were in vain as Ness jumped out of bed trying to explain what _really_ happened when Snape cut him off saying, "Shush boy, the headmaster has something to say." Ness shot him an annoyed glare as Dumbledore started to speak, acting as if Ness hadn't been talking at 50 mph.

"My apologies Poppy, but I need to speak to Mr. Potter, Earthbound and Ms. Granger, Sirius Black had some interesting things to-,"

"I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted into their minds?" Snape questioned, his voice low and cold.

"That, is indeed what he told me." Dumbledore replied, unfazed by Snape's hostile aura.

"Oh, I see, so the _teacher,_ can interrupt the Headmaster but the lowly student cannot." Ness snarked, "I'm learning more and more about Wizards every day." S

nape sent him an angry glare before he resumed speaking, "Surely, my evidence proves his story false."

"Even though you arrived half way through the discussion and attacked us before asking us questions. And then spent your time knocked out before we got outside" Ness reminded him. Prompting Hermione to earnestly say, "Ness is right sir, you only heard bits and pieces-,"

"Mr. Earthbound, Miss Granger, HOLD YOUR TONGUE." Snape angrily ordered.

"Now Snape." The Minister started, looking a bit startled by his outburst, "Their minds are disturbed, we must allow some allowances-,"

"Cornelius, Severus, I would like to speak to the children alone." Dumbledore interrupted, "And Poppy—please leave us as well." Madam Pomfrey opened her mouth to argue but she quickly closed it and threw her hands up, returning to the medicine room. The Minister glanced at a gold pocket before he left, saying about how the Dementors should have arrived and that he needed to meet them, leaving them alone with Dumbledore and Snape who looked ready to murder someone.

"You don't believe a word of Black's story." Snape quietly accused, "Do you?"

"I merely wish to hear from the children's side of view." Dumbledore repeated, prompting Snape to take a step forward and hiss, "Sirius Black is quite capable of killing people—and he's proven that in his sixth year, where he so nicely tried to kill me. Or, have you forgotten that?"

"I remember that event quiet well, and if I remember correctly, Black merely meant it as a joke, a harmful one yes, but still a joke which he was properly punished for." Dumbledore said calmly, "Now then…" Snape grit his teeth and left the room, closing the door with a small snap.

The moment Dumbledore turned around, he was bombarded by Harry and Hermione who rapidly started to tell him what really happened. Ness stayed silent, looking the old wizard with curiosity. Sure, he had caught a glimpse of Dumbledore at Hagrid's cabin and at meals.

But he never saw the Headmaster outside of the dining hall. Heck, he forgot Dumbledore was in charge after he realized that Black wasn't after Harry. And now, Ness was sorting wishing that he hadn't as he watched Dumbledore calmly interrupt their stories and said the blunt truth.

Black was doomed to die thanks to lack of proof and by the time Lupin, the only creditable eyewitness turned back to normal he would be dead, yet despite this. He seemed calm and collected, reminding Ness of movie character who was all powerful yet not there for the entire story, allowing the heroes to make dumb decisions that nearly jeopardize the heroes quest.

 _"Some hero I turned out to be."_ Ness thought bitterly, silently wishing that he had more time at the beginning of the year to stomach what exactly his job was. "—What we need, is more _time."_ Dumbledore finished bringing Ness back to reality. As the word time causing Hermione to gasp, "Oh!" in understanding.

"More time would be awesome, but it's not like we can summon it from thin air." Ness grumbled, "Or can we?" Dumbledore questioned, a small twinkle in his eyes, "Now pay attention." Dumbledore instructed, dropping his voice to a low whisper, "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the far right of the west wing. If all goes well, you'll be able to save more than one innocent life tonight."

 _"More than one? But Ginny and I freed Buckbeak, so who's the other innocent?"_

"But, remember this, _you must not be seen._ Miss Granger, you know the law—you know what is at stake… Miss Granger, you know the law—you know what is at stake… _You—must—not-be—seen."_

Harry gave Dumbledore a baffled look as Ness frowned, slowly getting an idea of what Dumbledore wanted, after all, the only way to gain more time would be to time travel. But why on earth did Hermione have one? And why was Dumbledore leaving?

"I _'_ m going to lock you in now, it is now five minutes to midnight. Three turns should do it Miss Granger." Hermione nodded as Dumbledore said, "Good luck." Left.

"Good luck?" Harry echoed, "How on earth is that supposed to help us?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure we have to do something involving time traveling." Ness offered, "How? I have no idea." He glanced at Hermione who was fumbling with the neck of her robes, trying to free a small object connected with gold chains.

"What's tha-," Ness started to ask as Hermione freed the chain and reveled a small shiny hourglass, "Come here, quick!" Hermione ordered, her eyes warily studying Madam Pomfrey's door as she held the chain open, making the loop big enough for at least three people.

"Okaay then?" Ness said, climbing out of bed and joining Hermione's side, as she threw the chain over Ness and Harry, trapping them in a tight metal circle.

"I hate jewelry." Ness decided as the gold chains dug into his skin, "Ready?" Hermione asked, sounding a little winded, "What are we doing?" Harry questioned as Hermione started to turn the hourglass three times, "Time traveling, duh." Ness answered before he felt something sucker punch him in the gut.

A wave of nausea passed over him as the floor underneath him shifted, the colors started to change and the dark lighting turned into a sunset yellow as the room spun. It reminded Ness of teleporting only much worse.

With a sudden snap the room abruptly stopped and Ness fell forward, feeling too dizzy and queasy to stand.

"Hermion- wha? Where?" Harry questioned as Hermione grabbed Harry and forced Ness to his feet, dragging them out into the hall and into a broom closet. Ness happily slumped against the wall as Harry stammered some more before he formed a cohort question, "What just happened?"

"We've gone back in time. About 3 hours" Hermione whispered, pressing her ear to the door to listen for any intruders, "That's possible?" Harry asked.

"I've done it." Ness mumbled, "A couple of times, actually."

"Shh! Do you hear that?" Hermione questioned, Ness shook his head no since all he could hear was his heart beat, which seemed to get louder and louder with every passing second, "Is… that us?" Harry whispered as a faint pair of footsteps echoed through the hallway.

"Yes…. We're leaving for Hagrid's." Hermione whispered.

"But-how? How is this possible?"

"I have a time tuner, a very, very powerful artifact that Professor McGonagall had to practically bend over backwards for me to get." Hermione explained, "I've been using it to get to all my classes."

"So that's how you've been attending so many classes at once." Harry exclaimed, sounding a little awestruck. "You've been going back in time!"

"You are one workaholic Hermione." Ness weakly joked, "I can only take one class at a time."

"Thank you…?" Hermione questioned, not getting the joke, "And, are you okay? You look extremely pale."

"I'm fine, just trying to adjust to the floor _not_ moving." Ness said, silently thinking _"Although I shouldn't be feeling this sick at all."_

"I see…" Hermione said although she still looked worry, Harry however, didn't seem as distraught by Ness's condition, probably because he was still trying to figure out what they were supposed to do.

Ness happily drowned Harry's questions out while the world finally stopped giving him a headache. "Alright… everyone's gone now." Hermione said, opening the door and slipping out into the hall. Ness and Harry followed her and carefully headed for the door leading to Hagrid's house.

The entire way, Hermione fretted about someone seeing them from the window, forcing Harry and Ness to quietly reassure her that they would merely run into the woods and or teleport (Hermione sent him an agitated look and a brief lecture of how you couldn't apperate in the castle grounds for that)

"A-alright, we need to head for the woods now." Hermione said as they cut through the vegetable patch, "Why?" Ness questioned, "We could just hang out here until Black's nabs Ron."

"But we need to save Buckbeak, remember?" Harry said.

"Save—," Ness started to say when Hermione and Harry moved for the woods, "Wait! You guys Ginny and I-," Ness started to say, only to be cut off by a loud panicky "Shush!" from Hermione as they sneaked along the forest's edge.

 _"Thanks time traveling stomach,"_ Ness bitterly thought, _"You made me forget to warn Harry and Hermione about Ginny and me."_

"Freaky…" Harry muttered as they heard him knock on Hagrid's door and say, "Hagrid, it's us we're wearing the invisibility cloak." Prompting Hagrid to tearful exclaim, "You shouldn't have come!"

"Guys!" Ness hissed as they slowly approached the giant pumpkin garden and hid behind some trees, "We need to move!"

"Why? This is the safest place to be." Harry murmured, "Yes! Until Ginny and I come here and-,"

 _"Who's there?!"_

"Crud…" Ness groaned, as Buckbeak's head snapped up from pawing the ground and glared right into the woods, "Ness, why do we need to move?" Hermione questioned,

"Because, Ginny and _I_ save Buckbeak." Ness explained as he backed up, "You did what?!" Hermione exclaimed as Buckbeak frowned and strained at the rope, trying to find the source of their conversation, "I'll explain later." Ness whispered, "Right now I have to convince Buckbeak that there's a ghost with mind reading powers."

"A what?" Hermione questioned as Harry paled and whispered, "That's right, you can commutate with animals…"

Ness ignored her and mentally poked Buckbeak who jumped back and looked around in surprise, _"Who did that?! I demand that you reveal yourself at once!"_ Buckbeak ordered.

 _"But I have."_ Ness taunted, _"After all, you've been watching me through the window."_

 _"Through the-,"_ Buckbeak froze and slowly glared inside, _"You dirty little rodent…"_ Buckbeak snarled, _"Mark my words! Before my beheading I shall find you!"_

 _"Suuure, have fun with that."_ Ness thought before he flashed a thumbs' up to Harry and Hermione before backing up, "He's focusing on Scabbers now." Ness whispered.

"Great." Harry whispered, "Now how did you and Ginny free him? We didn't see anyone else come down from the castle when-," Harry abruptly cut himself off when Hermione muffled a gasp and pointed back at the garden, where Ness and Ginny had just landed.

"Um… Is Buckbeak usually outside?" they heard Ginny questioned as she woozily regained her balance, "Darn, we got here too late." Past Ness muttered before he chipperly turned to Buckbeak who was glaring into the window.

"This is sooo weird." Ness mumbled as Past him asked Buckbeak what was wrong, earning a sour, _"That rat is mocking me…"_ before questioning as to why they were there.

"Wh…why is no one saying anything?" Hermione questioned.

"Telekinesis." Ness explained, "I'm allowing Ginny to hear what Buckbeak's saying so we don't catch your attention, don't worry, we're just talking about ways to free him using my powers."

"And then what happens?" Harry questioned.

"Well, we booked it for the woods when we heard you were leaving and waited for a bit." Ness finished, "Which is why I'm backing up."

"I suppose giving us future warning would have been too much to ask." Hermione grumbled as they joined Ness behind a thick oak wood, Just as Past Ness and Ginny were forcefully thrown toward the bushes to hide as Past Harry, Hermione and Ron left through the backdoor.

"Anything else we should worry about?" Harry questioned as he watched Past Ginny and Ness whisper to each other, "Well, after I free Buckbeak he runs into the woods, then Ginny and I walk back to the castle before realizing that you guys were probably attacked by Black. Turn around only to be stopped by Lupin who reveals to be a werewolf and then we teleport to the classroom and then to the Shrieking Shack." Ness recalled taking a small gulp of air.

"Where, exactly does he run to?" Hermione questioned.

"North, which prompted the Executor hunt." Ness explained, "Which means we should start moving to try and catch him." Harry and Hermione shared a look before they nodded, probably decided that it was best to act and not ask questions until it was safe.

"Alright we should be-," Ness started to say when they heard a loud triumphant caw of victory followed by heavy thumping as Buckbeak charged into the woods, trampling a bush and spreading his wings with glee.

"He's about to take flight!" Hermione realized prompting Ness to sarcastically say, "Nooo. I thought he was about to go for a swim." Before he turned toward Buckbeak, _"Yo! Buckbeak!"_ the Hippogriff screeched to a halt and glanced behind him _"Ness? Is something wrong?"_

"What's he saying?" Hermione questioned, "He's just confused right now." Ness whispered, "Here, grab my hand, you can hear him as well."

"If you say so." Harry muttered, doing as Ness said and frowning slightly as he heard nothing, _"Over here! I'm behind the tree."_ Ness mentally yelled.

 _"Of course, you are."_ Buckbeak grumbled, _"Don't you ever get headaches from your PSI powers?"_

 _"Psi doesn't exist."_ Hermione thought, _"It's been proven and debunked."_

 _"Who's that? That doesn't sound like Carrot top."_ Buckbeak questioned, _"It's Hermione Granger, she's a friend of Harry."_ Ness explained, _"Who…?"_

 _"I'm the boy who first bowed to you, and one of Hagrid's friends."_ Harry explained, looking a little uncomfortable at how they were communicating with Buckbeak.

 _"Ah… Now I remember you—wait, you were just in the-,"_ Buckbeak started to say, his eyes widening in realization when Ness abruptly cut him off, _"I know, it's weird, but we've traveled back in the past in order to save Harry's godfather and capture a rat faced jerk."_

 _"But-,"_

 _"And, we need your help to do it."_ Ness finished. Buckbeak huffed, approached their hiding spot and glared down at them, _"And why on earth should I help this random stranger?"_ Buckbeak coolly demanded.

Hermione and Harry exchanged a look as Ness happily replied, _"Because! If you don't then Peter Petigrew, a mass murdered and, a proud servant of You know Who will get away without fearing Black."_

 _"His servants are still around?!"_ Buckbeak exclaimed his eyes widen in horror, then abruptly narrowing in anger and disgust, _"Very well, then, I shall lend my wings to this Black person you speak of. As well as maul the little monster."_

 _"P-please wait!"_ Hermione squeaked, _"We need Peter alive to prove Black's innocent!"_

 _"You do?"_ Buckbeak tilted his head, as in thought then glanced at Harry, deeming him to be the one in charge of the mission. _"You don't mind if I bite his hand of…. Right?"_

 _"He may need that later on."_ Harry said, looking a little bewildered, _"Plus, that wouldn't prove your case of being a harmless Hippogriff."_ Buckbeak gave a low, _"Hmph."_ Of annoyance then folded his wings, _"Very well, what do you need me to do?"_

 _"Fly Black out of here once the chaos ends."_ Ness explained, _"Which means we're going to be doing a lot of waiting and sneaking around for a bit."_

 _"Do I have to sneak? Sneaking it repulsive."_ Buckbeak whined, somehow still sounding like a dignified creature, _"Well do you want us to stay still so the Ministry of Magic can find and behead you?"_ Harry challenged.

 _"Good God no."_ Buckbeak retorted with a small shiver, _"Just, lead the way."_

 _"To the Whomping Willow!"_ Ness instructed, dreading the long wait they were going to have to endure. Something Harry and Hermione seemed quiet fine with, then again, for them it would allow them to see everything that happened, for Ness, it was a chance to take another nap. Or try to since the moment they found a good spot, Hermione and Harry began bombarding him with questions.

"So how did you, Ginny and Lupin get to the Whomping Willow without being seen?" Hermione questioned as they watched Snape stop at the tree, grab Harry's cloak and then enter the tunnel.

"Same way we got to the garden," Ness bluntly replied, "I teleported to the Shrieking Shack."

"You couldn't have teleported-," Hermione began to say when Ness cut her off, "I didn't use Magic, I used PSI."

"P..SI?" Harry questioned, "What's that?"

"Psionics, or PK, Psychokinesis, which both stand for psychic powers." Ness explained, "I can't wield magic since I'm already a psychic, that's why you almost never see me with a wand."

Hermione gave him a dumb founded look while Harry frowned and asked, "Is that even possible?"

"Well, that's how I freed Buckbeak without approaching him, how I've been able to share his thoughts with you guys and how I managed to figure out Black's story in the first place, I used my psychic powers." Ness replied, feeling a headache coming on as he saw the gears in Hermione's head turn.

Thankfully, Buckbeak interrupted their discussion by stiffening and getting to his feet, _"People are approaching, from the tree and from the west."_

"Looks like it's time to move again." Ness said, spotting a silhouette of seven people walking in a straight line toward the castle. "There! Over there!" a voice rang, prompting them to head for the clearing as spells began to fly, "Geez! Those guys are out for blood!" Ness commented as he ducked under a nasty looking green ball of magic, "Lucky us." Harry grumbled as they ducked behind a bush and waited.

A couple minutes later, Past Harry, Hermione and Ness stumble into the clearing chasing after Peter who abruptly disappeared. _"I'll get him!"_ Buckbeak volunteered straining at his rope collar as Ness and Hermione held him back, "If you do that then we'll see you!" Ness hissed, "Now sit! And Harry, don't do anything dumb!"

"I wasn't going to." Harry protested, but he didn't dare argue any further when Hermione and Ness sent him knowing glares. "I hate those things." Hermione muttered as the swarm of Dementors appeared, trapping their past selves in a circle of death. Ness closed his eyes as he sensed himself spamming Fire Alpha while Harry desperately yelled at Hermione to think happy thoughts.

"Where's the white light?" Harry murmured as Past Hermione fainted and Ness's random bursts of fire slowly started to die down in power, "Oh yea… I saw that too, right after I performed Rockin' Alpha." Ness muttered, "Err…Sorry about that."

"Sorry about what?" Harry questioned as Past Harry collapsed, gasping Ness's name as Past Ness struggled to stand.

"Never mind! So uh, where's the magical white light?" Ness questioned looking around in confusion, "I swear it came from here…" Harry frowned then gasped in realization, "Harry what are you-," Hermione started to say when Harry stood up, pointed his wand and yelled, _"Expecto Patronum!"_ summoning a brilliant white stag which shot forward, barreling into a couple Dementors before it started to protectively circle their Past Selves.

"Harry!" Hermione hissed, "What are you doing!?"

"Saving our lives." Ness realized, "Man, time traveling is confusing."

"Wh- Harry didn't-," Hermione started to say when Harry recalled the last thing he saw, "I thought I saw my dad saving us Hermione, but it was actually me."

"And that would explain why the last thing I saw was my hat." Ness said, "So, no real harm since we were supposed to do this I guess."

"You two had better be right." Hermione groaned. Buckbeak merely huffed and lied down, _"Now what? Are we waiting again?"_

 _"Someone brought us to the castle, which was how we even got into the hospital wing."_

 _"So people DO have wings?"_

 _"Err, no, it's a term for a section of a building that juts out."_

 _"…I see…"_ Buckbeak said, although he still looked a little confused.

"So Snape was the one who brought us back." Harry practically growled as Snape entered the clearing, took a long look at the three knocked out children and summoned a couple stretchers before disappearing back into the woods.

"And there's my camera!" Ness exclaimed, "Thank god it didn't get broken." Harry silently nodded in agreement while Hermione fretted for a bit before suggesting that they started to head back to the castle, Ness agreed, but managed to grab Selvis's camera before following Harry and Hermione through the forest.

"Black had better be placed back in… Whose office was it again?"

"Professor Flitwick's." Hermione recalled. "Seventh floor, thirteenth window from the far right of the west wing. That's where we need to go next once everything settles down."

"Well, Black was put in the classroom probably around 10 Pm, since Dumbledore said it was five minutes to midnight when we left." Harry said, "So we could probably head there once we get out of the woods."

"Yes! The time traveling madness can come to an end!" Ness cheered, earning a dry comment of, _"I don't see what's so bad about time traveling."_ From Buckbeak. While Harry and Hermione vigorously nodded their heads in agreement, "I don't think I can take much more of this sneaking around." Hermione muttered as they finally left the dark woods and headed toward the west wing.

"It isn't that bad." Harry offered earning a glare from Ness, who didn't say anything and merely focused on the glowing windows.

"There! That has to be Flitwick's office." Hermione said, pointing at a window that was dimmed slightly, "Great, now what?" Ness questioned, he had never been in Flitwick's office, so he couldn't teleport them up there, so how would they—"Buckbeak can fly us up." Harry said looking at Buckbeak who briefly stretched his wings before kneeling, _"Finally, I get to do something other than walk."_ Buckbeak said.

"Lovely." Ness said completely forgetting about Buckbeak's power of flight. He carefully followed Harry and Hermione's lead as they climbed onto Buckbeak's back, positioning himself on Buckbeak's hindquarters, _"Hold on."_ Buckbeak advised. Prompting Ness to bitterly muttered, "To what?" before he bit his tongue to suppress a terrified scream as Buckbeak kicked off and shot forward, doing a couple practice circles in the air before he headed toward Black's window.

"Black!" Harry yelled, "Over here!" Black, who had just finished a long list of regrets wearily looked up and jumped, "What the- Harry? How did you?" then he stopped and grinned, "If James could see you now, he would swear that it was your mother's fault that your flying on a Hippogriff."

"Can we land now?" Ness questioned, "I reeeaaally don't like knowing the fact that I can turn into a pancake at any moment."

 _"I'm not going to drop you!"_ Buckbeak protested as Harry switched places with Black, allowing him to get on the Hippogriff, how Harry managed to climb off the creature without falling was beyond Ness, but Harry's action convinced him to do the same, which was how he and Harry became stranded at Flitwick's office after Ness promised that they would meet her back at broom closet.

"I. Hate. Flying." Ness declared once he was safely on the ground, "Never again am I trying any wizard version of flying."

"Good luck with that." Harry said, examining the door, "I'm pretty sure Ginny still wants you to ride my Firebolt."

"She better not." Ness grumbled before he glanced at Flitwick's desk, which was full of tiny nick-knacks and objects, "Well, let's get going before the Minister-," Ness started to say when they heard footsteps, "That must be them." Harry realized, glancing at a charmed clock which read 11:30, "They must be coming to check on Black!"

"Well, looks like we better leave then." Ness said. He grabbed Harry's hand ran forward and pictured himself and Harry entering the Broom closet. With a blur of motion, Flitwick's office disappeared, and the brooms appeared.

"Victory—Ow!" Ness yelped as he and Harry collided with the cleaning tools, "Once again, my grand escape was foiled by brooms." Ness groaned as Harry placed a broken broom on the ground.

"Oh? So what was the first time brooms foiled your escape plan?" Harry questioned.

"When Ginny tried to get me to fly on one."

"Brooms aren't that bad."

"Says the boy whose Father was a mega prankster." Ness retorted, "While you have fun flying in the sky, I'll happily stay on the ground and not lose my life because my flying stick broke during a game."

"What are you two arguing about?" a voice hissed, causing them to jump as the door abruptly opened then closed, "I knew brooms had souls!" Ness hissed, "And—Oh wait, never mind."

"I thought so." Hermione huffed, removing the Invisibility cloak, "Honestly can't believe we forgot about this."

"Well, to be fair when we were running we-," Ness started to say when they heard someone loudly say, "I _'_ m going to lock you in know, It is five minutes to midnight, three turns should do it Miss Granger… Good luck."

"Come on." Harry said, opening the door and heading toward the hospital wing where Dumbledore was just closing the door, "Ah, the mission was successful then?" Dumbledore questioned, although he had a knowing twinkle in his eye. They nodded then glanced at the door, "Just a moment we need to—ah, it appears that you've already left."

"Time traveling, a lovely way to get headaches." Harry grumbled as Dumbledore opened the door and allowed them inside. Ness was about to get back in bed when he remembered something, "Err, Headmaster, why did you tell us that we had _two_ innocent lives to save?" Ness questioned, "You, yourself saw Buckbeak disappear at the cabin so why-," Ness stopped when Dumbledore held his hand up, "As much as I would like to answer that question Earthbound, it is late, and we have a very busy day tomorrow. So, I bid you all, good night." And with that, the headmaster left the room.

"…He knows what I mean." Ness grumbled as Madam Pomfrey returned, "Oh, so _now_ I'm allowed to take care of my patients." She grumbled handing them each a chunk of chocolate which they wisely accepted and ate.

"Good, now as I said before you'll be-," she started to say when they heard yelling, thumping and a torrent of footsteps heading for the infirmary.

"Now what?!" Madam Pomfrey demanded as Snape threw the door open and pointed at Harry who jumped in legit surprise, "You! Potter!" Snape snarled, "You did this!"

"Did what?! They've been here the entire time!" Madam Pomfrey snapped, "Now-,"

"Then how do you explain Black magically escaping from the 13th floor!" Snape snapped, rounding on her with a vicious glare.

"N….now…. now." The Minster panted, appearing in the door way with a frazzled expression, "Just because Black somehow slipped underneath our noses isn't why we should blame the-,"

"Minster, this is Potter we're talking about! He and his friends have _always_ been behind mysterious disappearances!" Snape argued.

"Hey! The only thing I've made disappear and reappear is this!" Ness protested, holding up Selvis's batter camera, "Ah, so you've found it." Madam Pomfrey grumbled, "Yea, and I managed to take some pretty cool pictures with it!" Ness explained, pulling free a clear photo of Peter Petigrew from the jammed camera slot. Peter was trembling as Lupin calmly confronted him and blocked any means of escaping from the photo frame.

"See? Cool right?" Ness asked, happily handing his photo to the Minster who half-heatedly accepted saying, "Yes, yes, this is a very lovely photo but now I have to tell the Daily Prophet that-," he stopped, looked at the photo then at Ness, his eyes widening in shock "Mr. Earthbound, who is the man cowering in the photo?"

"That's Peter Petigrew." Hermione supplied, "He faked his death to escape You-Know-Who's followers."

"He… faked his death?" The Minister repeated, looking bewildered.

"Yes, and he's the reason why Black went peacefully to Azkaban then broke out, he was hunting him down to exact revenge on Peter for killing my parents." Harry explained.

"Good gravy…" the Minster whispered, "If this is true then… then we've been chasing the wrong man!" Snape shot the Minister a look of disbelief then glowered at them.

"Lovely, now GET OUT!" Madam Pomfrey ordered, "These children need rest! You can question them in the morning!"

"Oh! Yes of course! Come on Severus." The Minister mumbled looking like he had just been sucker punched as he and Snape shuffled out of the room. Ness grinned and happily burrowed under the blankets. He, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and everyone else, had just proven a guilty man innocent.

That, made the entire year of asking questions worth it.

* * *

 **YES! Nearly finished with Year Three! Which means, I won't have to glance back and forth between the book and my laptop in order to get a chain of events/dialogue, I can now paraphrase what happens freely! :D**


	10. Chapter 10, School's out! Summer's in!

After Madam Pomfrey allowed them to leave, Ness and Ginny quickly saw that the work of the Boundless hadn't been for nothing. When they joined their housemates at breakfast. Luna had quickly given them an issue of the Qubbiler with an almost giddy smile.

"There's _loads_ of theories to make now." She exclaimed before she returned to her house table,

"Okay then." Ness muttered as Ginny read the blaring headline aloud, "Serious Black innocent! A man once dead now revealed to walk among the living as a rat! More inside!"

"Whoa. I knew this would be big, but I didn't know the Qubbiler was a gossip magazine." Ness said.

"I…it's not." Ginny replied, looking extremely bewildered, "But, this is Luna's father were talking about and he usually prefers to talk about the unknown, so to get actual proof that a man once dead is alive must be like getting a Elkwood horn for Christmas."

"Should I ask?"

"No, but look! The Daily Prophet's talking about it as well!" Ginny exclaimed,

"Uh, _everyone's_ talking about Black being innocent Ginny." Ness said pointing toward their house mates who had their noses buried in different newspapers, only looking up to express their shock and disbelief.

"The Minister was right. The Daily Prophet _is_ having a field day." Ness mumbled as he caught someone loudly whisper, "I can't believe it! No wonder Black seemed like he was off his nutter! He was the only person who knew the truth!"

And someone else replied, "I hope our parents can overlook Lupin though, he's a really cool teacher for a werewolf."

"Snaaap." Ness groaned, "Of course Lupin had to come clean to explain about how Peter was an Animagus." Ginny sighed and closed the Qubbiler, "Of course he had to, if he didn't mention why then Snape surely would have—I mean, look at him! He's downright murderous!"

"No, he's not-," Ness started to say when he glanced at the Staff Table to see Snape drilling holes into Harry's head then a lowered glare at Dumbledore who was happily eating runny eggs and toast.

"Never mind." Ness muttered, "And, speaking of teachers. Dumbledore WAS with the executors, right?"

"Of course," Ginny said, "Says so right in the news. Besides, I remember it happening." She frowned and glanced at Dumbledore, "Why do you ask? Did something happen?"

"Uh…" Ness said, glancing around at the table, even though everyone was talking he didn't want to get Hermione in trouble by talking about their time traveling adventure.

"Never mind." Ginny sighed sensing his problem, "You can tell me on the train."

"What train?"

"The train to return home of course, it'll be the end of the school year in a couple days. After Hogsmeade everyone's going to be packing before the last Great Feast to leave after Dumbledore announces the house winner." Ginny explained.

"There was a contest for best house?"

"You _were_ attending school, right?" Ginny teased, "Look, you see those giant hourglasses?"

"…Where did those-,"

"Anyway." Ginny interrupted, "You can get points on good behavior, being a smart student and last minute bonus points, Gryffindor's been winning thanks to Harry."

"They have?" Ness questioned.

"Yea!" Ginny exclaimed with a huge grin, "Before, Slytherin had the House Cup, but then Harry foiled an evil teacher's plan and saved me from Voldemort!"

"Wait what." Ness said, the grinds stopped for a moment, "I thought you were trapped in some Secret Chamber or something!"

"I was but um… I'll explain on the train." Ginny hastily finished, "The point is that Harry's bravery, Hermione's smarts and Ron's… helpfulness have helped our house in winning the House Cup."

"Odd…" Ness said, an old theory coming back as he looked at Dumbledore. Stroke of luck or not, the lions of bravery coming back to being the top dog after defeating the 'house of evil' seemed to much a coincidence.

He didn't have long to ponder over it since Ginny suggested that he pack his things and send a letter to his parents about what happened before he enjoyed the beautiful Spring-Summer weekend weather.

"So, THAT'S where you went." Ness grumbled, pulling a scroll full notes free from underneath his bed, "And here I thought Selvis stole them." He sighed and glanced at his trunk with a half-smile, wondering if he was doomed to attend Hogwarts for five more years or if he was truly done.

"Ah, whatever. I'll deal with it when the time comes." Ness decided before he kicked his trunk—wait, he had a suitcase, dear god being in Europe was turning him British!

"Annnd time to write a letter." Ness said, _"But what to write about…?"_ sure, he had tried to write more after Christmas, and he had, but how was he going to explain this whole mess in brief sentences before he got home?

He couldn't just up and say, 'Hey mom! Just finished traveling through time to save an innocent life and that was after a bunch of convoluted waiting and talking! Tell you more when I get home!' he had already gotten an earful when he had tried to hurriedly explain how he, Paula, Poo and Jeff had saved the world.

But, he couldn't say too much, since he didn't trust his mail to be safely delivered after Kir had 'accidentally' lost his letter to Paula in the woods. And he had put a lot of work into that letter!... Sort of, he had worked hard on finishing it since school work had interrupted his train of thinking at the time but—

"Mr. Earthbound." A crisp voice said.

"Gah!" he spun around, wincing as he banged his leg against the bedside dresser as he looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing at the dormitory doorway. Everyone else had fled to the wonderful outdoors, leaving him with the Head of House.

"Professor, uh… what are you doing here?" Ness questioned, "Is this mandatory checkup or something…?"

"Dumbledore requested to speak with you." She said, sounding a little stiff, although that could have been because she had been personally seeing the Dementors off before breakfast with Madam Pomfrey.

"He has…? Cool." Ness said, slowly standing up and shoving his hands into his robe pockets, "Lead the way te—Professor." She nodded, catching onto Ness's hurried cover up at trying to call her 'Teach' a nickname he had given his old teachers before this whole mess had started.

And lead him out the common room and toward a Gargoyle, where she whispered a candy brand into the statue's ear. _"Dumbledore reeallly likes sweets to make it his official password."_ Ness thought as the statue stepped aside, allowing them to enter a spiraling stairwell.

"Ah, right on time." Dumbledore said, gently smiling at him as Professor McGonagall ushered him inside a formal yet oddly cozy Headmaster's office.

"I suppose you have a lot of questions Ness." Dumbledore guessed.

"Uh, yea… A bunch actually." Ness said, sitting down in a really, cozy armchair. Even though the room was warm yet professionally decorated, Ness kept getting shivers down his spine and a faint stabbing in his head. Maybe that had something to do with the oddly colored bird and the glaring paintings…

"Admiring the décor?" Dumbledore asked, causing Ness to jump a little, "Uh… A little, anyway! Why did you tell Harry and Hermione that we needed to save _two_ innocent lives?" Ness questioned, "You _saw_ Buckbeak escape on his own, and you _know_ that I'm not a wizard, so why lie?"

"Well, if I had just said that you three needed to save _one_ person, Harry and Hermione would have misunderstood what they needed to do." Dumbledore calmly explained, "This entire year, you've been off with your friends finding your own way to save Black while Harry and his friends spent their year trying to save Buckbeak. So, in a way you _both_ needed to save _two_ innocent lives."

"…I… Huh." Ness said, something clicking with what Dumbledore said, but… WHAT THE HECK WAS UP WITH THIS HEADACHE?! It was throwing everything out of line… Weird… Hopefully it would go away on its own...

"So, that's solved. Great, but why am I, a Psychic child who has been banned from the magical world by law, here? Harry didn't need me! Heck, all I did was play the 'why am I here' game!"

"That, is for you to find out, Ness." Dumbledore said, "You may not realize it now, but you and Harry share a connection."

"…Huh?"

"Fate, has drawn you to together."

"No, that was you, who sent the letter. Claiming that I needed to protect Harry."

"And you did, if you didn't think to take pictures of Peter then Harry wouldn't have a chance to be with his Godfather-,"

"Who you, originally didn't like since you urged James to change Secret Keepers." Ness reminded him.

"A regrettable mistake." Dumbledore bitterly said, "At the time, I was blinded by Black's past mistakes and unable to see the good in him at the time. If I hadn't urged him to change then…" he trailed off and lowered his head slightly, before he brightened, "But, we have all learned a valuable lesson, never judge a book by its cover. Or, in this case a magic spell."

Ness slowly nodded, although something sounded off about that statement, why would Dumbledore be blinded by Black's past actions? He had been a jokester yea, but when it came down to the wire, Black was a good friend—No, the BEST friend any man could ever had.

And hadn't Dumbledore-, "Now then, any other questions?"

Ness jumped and shook his head, his mind muddled from the headache. "Well, then, I believe our time is up." Dumbledore said, nodding at the door which abruptly opened, revealing Professor Lupin. Carrying a suitcase.

"Professor? Why are you here? And what's with the suitcase?" Ness questioned as he slowly got out of the armchair,

"I'm just here to drop off my registration letter."

"Wha-Oh… Because you're a…" Ness said, trailing off.

"Yes, Snape was upset at being unable to exact his revenge on Sirius, so he let it slip that I'm a werewolf, even though I confessed that to the newspapers."

"Guess he wanted to have something to own up to." Ness joked, although he didn't feel like joking at the moment. "Er… Sorry for barely paying attention in class…"

"Don't worry, I trust your 'powers' rendered it nearly impossible for you to focus for long." Lupin said with a small smile.

"That, and other things," Ness replied before he gave an awkward smile and excused himself from the office.

"That was weird." Ness muttered as he walked down the spiral magical staircase and watched the gargoyle close behind him. What on earth did Dumbledore mean by 'Fate had drawn them together?' had Harry been predicted to be a hero? But if that was true then why was Ness there?

He could save the day with his friends back home, all he needed was a goal and objective. And why did his head hurt?! He hadn't tried to fake magic so-, "Hello Ness…" a dreamy voice said, causing Ness to jump a foot in the air and glower at Luna who was carrying a bundle of knickknacks.

"You didn't get in trouble for anything, right?" Luna questioned.

"Uh, no, Dumbledore just summoned me to talk about what happened." Ness explained, "Err… What's with the random knickknacks?"

"There my things, my housemates think it's hilarious to hide my shoes, socks and gifts from home around the castle."

"Ouch."

"Oh, but don't worry, I usually find everything before the Great Feast." Luna said, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Want me to help? I don't exactly have anything better to do." Ness said, figuring that he should take a break from the All Mighty Wizard's words of 'advice' and focus on a somewhat serious problem.

"If you want to." Luna said, with a small shrug of her shoulders, "I'm just missing my glass mouse collection and Minirunt horns. They shouldn't be to hard to find…"

"Although I have no idea what a Minirunt horn looks like, let's go!" Ness announced, "Where haven't you checked yet?"

"The dungeons, Professor Snape was muttering up a storm, so I decided to check their later."

"Well, now's a better time than later since it's nearly evening."

"True…" Luna mused as they started to head for the lower levels of the castle, as they searched Luna babbled about how exciting it was to attend Hogwarts and earned dry quips from Ness about how he wished it was a bit calmer, "Maybe then we wouldn't have rat nutjobs on the loose." Ness grumbled.

"True… But at least everyone knows about him now." Luna reminded him, "If Selvis hadn't given you his camera then, Peter would have been able to roam freely around Europe."

"I guess… But it just feels wrong." Ness said, sighing slightly as he checked a molding desk, "He's going to come back with something or other just like Belch and I won't know what to do."

"Other than wait?"

"Waiting is fun, and relaxing but I just spent an entire year playing the what if game."

"Oh yea… I forgot we did that…" Luna mused, closing a classroom supply closet with a soft thud, "And being stuck in school probably isn't helping since you and the others were exploring the world to stop the bad guys."

"And we have helpful people telling us what _exactly_ they knew as we searched for the Mani-Mani Statues." Ness said, "Here, everyone's focusing on school. Or being a teacher."

"Come to think of it… I don't think I learned a single helpful thing this year."

"Really? What happened?"

"Black, I was busy creating theories that I forgot to actually study. I merely did the work to pass the class… Oh well…"

"I'm pretty sure I flunked every class so, you did better than me!" Ness offered, giving Luna a small grin.

"I don't think you did that bad-," Luna started to say when her foot hit something, "Oh! My Minirunt horns! Here they are!"

"Great! Now we have to find the glass mice!" Ness said, then he frowned and looked up at the stone celling, "I bet Kir has them…"

"He probably does." Luna mused, "I caught him flying around the Raven-claw tower a couple times."

"Geez, is he that desperate for mice?" Ness wondered as they back tracked and headed upstairs, admiring setting sun as they climbed the grand stairwell.

"Well… He is an owl."

"I know but still-,"

"There you are!" Ness jumped as Ginny nearly slammed into him, looking a little breathless, "What happened? Patti Patrvil told me that you were called into Dumbledore's office!" Ginny exclaimed.

"I'm not in trouble or anything." Ness started to say when he noticed a flood of students heading toward them, "Uh… I'll tell after dinner." Ness said as Luna mused, "Time for the Great Feast." And allowed herself to be swept up with the crowd.

XxxXx

Before Ness knew it, the school year was officially over, Dumbledore had announced Gryffindor to be the winner of the house cup for the third time in a row, earning three tables worth of mad cheering and yells of joy, Ness somehow didn't flunk out of school and Lupin had a wonderful good bye party hosted by almost every house and Ness.

Now, he was riding on the Hogwarts Express and sharing a car with Selvis who was practically livid about the results.

"I can't believe it! _I_ was the one who gave you the dumb camera! But did I earn 50 points? Nooooo!" Selvis spat, his arms crossing and uncross as he angrily ranted, "Ugh! Of course Dumbledore favors the _Gryffindors_ of course!"

Ness merely nodded his head in agreement as the prejudice against Slytherin became more and more apparent to him. After a full five minutes of watching Selvis's tantrum he tried to cheer him up, "Well, look on the bright side!"

"What. Bright side?" Selvis angrily questioned.

"Harry owes you something since your rock alerted us to him nearly getting booted out of school." Ness reminded him.

"Huh… I suppose your right." Selvis slowly said, his eyes growing wide with endless ideas, "Yes… Harry Potter owes me one! Take that gods of fate!"

"And now I'm slowly regretting mentioning that fact to you." Ness said as he imaged all the things Selvis could blackmail Harry into doin/

, "Oh please! You should be worried about yourself," Selvis huffed, "After all, you still had my listening stone on you."

"I did!?" Ness checked his robe pockets and gawked at the smooth white stone in his hands, "Wait, I gave it back to you after I-,"

"Well, that might not be the _exact_ rock." Selvis interrupted, "But who knows? I might have placed a second one on you during the school year. Or planted it in the camera which you so nicely nearly loss."

"Sorry… I was overwhelmed by soul-sucking monsters." Ness grumbled.

"No matter, I got gossip and you Gryffindors saved the day." Selvis said, happily flipping open a book to jot something down, "Win-win!"

Ness rolled his eyes and looked out the window to admire the afternoon sun, "Geez… How long does it take to find the snack cart?" Ness muttered as he glanced at a small pile of books and magazines which belonged to the girls.

"Dunno, but knowing them they probably found someone to gab to." Selvis mused, "Huh… I should have planted one on Ginny. Girls seem to know everything and everyone…"

"If you did that Ginny would murder you." Ness pointed out, "Or, have you forgotten how she pinned you to the ground before the final Qudditch match?"

Selvis stiffened and looked away, muttering something under his breath as he scanned his book.

"We're back!" Ginny announced, the car door practically flying open as Ginny and Luna stepped inside, carrying an army of oddly shaped sweets.

"Good god!" Selvis exclaimed as Luna happily dumped some pumpkin pastries into his lap, "Did you buy out the entire cart or something?!"

"Only half of it." Luna teased as she sat back down in her mess of paper and took a bite out of her own pastry.

"We got really, really lucky!" Ginny exclaimed, practically glowing with happiness, "While Luna and I were trying to figure out what to buy, a Raven-claw girl by the name of Orchid Smith approached us and asked if we were friends with you Ness!"

"Annnd?" Ness questioned.

"Well, apparently, she's a huge fan of your adventure and offered to split half the cost of the pastries since she was picking some up for her friends as well! So we were able to get a huge selection!" Ginny finished.

Selvis snorted while Ness said, "Wow! That was really nice of her!"

"Especially since your family's too poor to afford decent books." Selvis quipped, giving Ginny's school book a look of disdain before he bit into his pumpkin treat.

Ginny sent him a death glare while Luna mused, "Orchid also seemed quiet interested in the camera you used Ness, saying that the quality of the picture you took reminded her of her hot-headed little brother's camera."

"Really?" Ness started to ask when Selvis violently choked on the mouthful he had been chewing and doubled over in a coughing fit.

"The Cho-Cho fairies must have got him!" Luna realized her eyes widening slightly in shock, while Ginny yelped, "I'll get water!"

"N-o!" Selvis wheezed, furiously pounding his chest as he coughed, "I'm good!"

"Well, he's talking so that means he can breathe." Ness noted as Ginny left the car to search for water, "How do you feel?"

"Like murdering someone." Selvis darkly muttered before he snapped, "Fine! Just a little surprised at Orchid's idiotic question." And huffily folded his arms. Ness and Luna exchanged a look but didn't press the question as Selvis shot them daggers.

When Ginny returned with water (Which Selvis grudgingly accepted after Ness threatened to use his PSI powers on him) they started talking about the meeting with Dumbledore.

"Honestly… He sounds like he knows more than he's letting on." Ginny admitted with a small frown, "Then again, this is Dumbledore we're talking about."

"True…" Ness said, "But what's bugging me the most is how he phrased everything—I mean, he outright _distrusted_ Black when Voldemort was on the loose over past mistakes."

"Well Black _did_ nearly get Professor Snape killed." Luna reminded them, "And he _did_ become an illegal Animagus."

"Which was lucky left out of the story." Selvis recalled, "I thought it was a purpose mistake, but every newspaper except that news rag of yours Luna, seemed to have glossed over that fact."

"Well, the Ministry of Magic screwed up big time with letting Peter go scot free." Ginny started, "Letting the public know that there were two other Animagus wizards running around would be even worse."

Ness and Luna nodded in agreement while Selvis leaned against the compartment wall, "Still, Black was still reliable to James, something that should- No, _completely_ changed Dumbledore's judgement on the matter since he's this all mighty wizard who sees the good in every human being and monster."

"And he loves keeping secrets." Ginny grumbled. Ness and Selvis shared a baffled look while Luna merely said, "Like the chamber?"

"Of course! How else could Fawkes could have found us!" Ginny angrily argued, although, she seemed a bit nervous and fearful about the event.

"Whose Fawkes?" Ness questioned, prompting Selvis to happily chirp, "Dumbledore's pet Phoenix, he saved Harry from the brink of death last year with its magical tears of healing."

"Phoenixes can do that!?" Ness exclaimed, "I thought they just set stuff on fire…"

"That too." Selvis dryly added.

"Anyway. The Chamber of Secrets is located in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and the only way a person could get in was through a sink at the end of the room." Ginny explained, "But the catch was that only people who could speak parsel tongue, people who could speak snake could access the Chamber."

"Harry can talk to snakes? How?" Ness questioned, since Harry seemed surprised and amazed by his own ability to communicate with animals.

"No one really knows." Selvis sighed, "We have a couple rumors but those are less than truthful since they circle around Harry becoming the next dark lord or being his apprentice."

Luna nodded in agreement and twirled her quill in her fingers, "They were really bad theories though…"

"As I was saying." Ginny interrupted, "Only Harry could open the Chamber at the time, and he was dying while Ron was getting the teachers."

"And yet Fawkes managed to Desu Exmachina over to Harry's side." Ness finished.

"Desu what now?" Selvis questioned.

"Muggle term in movies in stories." Ness clarified, "It's where the hero gets stuck in this incredibly bleak and hopeless situation where it's 100% chance for them to die only to be rescued by a lady luck character who has next to no plausible explanation as to why they were there to save the day."

"So in other words… Dumbledore." Selvis said, his eyes lighting up slightly while Luna and Ginny exchanged a look, probably wondering if Dumbledore was indeed desu-exmacahina man.

"So back to the topic at hand, what's with the chamber?" Ness questioned, "It keeps popping up."

Selvis snorted and tilted his head to Ginny who flushed an embarrass yet angry red as he said, "Probably because our dear little lion was brainwashed by Tom Riddle, A.K.A Lord Voldemort to turn couple students, ghost and a cat into statues, kill a chicken and then lure her prince charming to the Chamber of Secrets."

"Ah… That's why it keeps popping up." Was all Ness could say before Ginny changed the subject, prompting the argument of the upcoming Quidditch World cup and who would win.

Ginny was beating on the Irish team while Selvis boasted that The Bulgarian team would win since they had Victor Krum on their team.

"I heard that he managed to catch the snitch 30 minutes after the game started." Selvis boasted, "Ireland's best seeker won't stand a chance against him!"

"Aidan Lynch _will_ stand a chance against Krum, because he's going to send him back to the icy tundra!" Ginny hotly retorted.

"I. Am soooo lost." Ness said, he looked at Luna who was happily creating paper hats out of old notes, "Who are they talking about?"

"Qudditch players." Luna translated, "The World Cup is about to be announced, but it's clear that Ireland and Bulgaria are going to be facing off against one another at some point."

"If you say so, I'd rather focus on Baseball world cups." Ness said with a small shrug before asking, "So anyone got any summer plans?"

"I'm going bog hunting with my father." Luna happily answered while Selvis's eyes lit up with malice glee, "I plan on spending my summer organizing my gossip and secret collection."

"Ignoring that little fact." Ginny bluntly retorted before she said, "I'm not sure what I'm going this summer, it's sort of a tossup. What about you Ness? Anything interesting planned?"

"Baseball, bugging Jeff, relaxing and enjoying the sights in Onett." Ness said with a huge grin, "It'll be nice to be semi-normal again and _not_ have to worry about magic for a bit."

"Magic is awesome." Selvis huffed, "You bloody Psi freak."

"Aw! You still like me!" Ness teased, earning an angry glower from Selvis and muffled hoots of laughter from the girls.

After that, they spent the remaining hours just chilling, enjoying the trees flying by the train and played cards where they discovered that playing Uno with three competitive people lead to yelling. Lots and lots of yelling and death threats.

"I'll send you a letter when I get home!" Ginny yelled as they got off the train with their trunks and headed their separate ways. "I'll try to do the same." Luna replied, but her yell was muffled by the buzz of conversation. Selvis merely stalked off to greet his parents while Ness happily enjoyed a tackle from King, who had snuck into the car when his father prepared for the long drive over to Europe.

"I swear he was going to murder me." His dad joked as King happily turned Ness's lap into a pillow, "He kept shooting me dirty looks when I said I was going to turn around."

 _"Hey! I'm just trying to be a good dog greeting his Master!"_ King protested, earning an eye roll from Ness as he teased, "Don't worry Dad, King's a bit to chicken to attack someone."

 _"I prefer the term, tame, civil and obedient. Not chicken, when it comes to attacking people."_ King huffed, his tail steadily thumping the car seat. Ness rolled his eyes once more and before he started talking with his dad about how Onett was and work.

* * *

Summer, Ness decided, was the season of interruptions. Sure, June and July had been swell since he had started playing baseball again, hung out with Paula and Jeff, raced King and Tracey around and other basic activities.

When August rolled around Ness was slowly regretting informing Paula of Dumbledore, wizards and their outfits since she had deemed them 'cultists'. Which was an overstatement but Ness was forced to let it slid every now and again considering the fact that Paula was wary of people wearing cloaks and robes after she had nearly became the Happy-Happy Priestess.

And even though the Happy-Happy cult were push overs, the thought of how actual cults worked terrified Paula to the point that she outright attacked people approaching her in robes that concealed your face and or outfit.

She had even attacked Ness once when he tried to prove that wizards weren't cultists because of their outfits. He quickly regretted doing that however since she had screamed "Cultist!" and chased him around her house with her frying pan until Ness had flung the robe off and yelled for mercy. Then it turned into a game of awkward and flustered apologies from both of them before Ness left. (Tracey happily teased him about that incident ever since.)

So when Ginny sent him a letter asking him to spend the rest of August at her house to attend the Qudditc World Cup (Her dad had won tickets for a huge group of people) Ness had hesitantly accepted, not because he didn't like Qudditch or because he didn't want to spend the remaining few weeks surrounded by wizards, but because she had asked if Ness could drag Paula along as well, her new muggle pen pal.

"She's going to murder you for sure." Tracey had said as Ness read the letter aloud and looked at his little sister and dog for help. _"Yeeaaaa. You'd do better lying to Ginny about Paula being sick."_ King said, his ears flattening slightly as he remembered Paula's little freak out.

"How? She's sending the same letter to Paula." Ness said, glancing at an old battered owl by the name or Erowl, the Weasly's family owl. It was dozing on the windowsill, blissfully unware of King's long stares or the dilemma at hand.

"Besides, it's not like I can just walk up to Paula and ask her out to a wizard's house." Ness deadpanned.

"You could try~" Tracey offered, as their front door open, "Hello Ness! Tracey!" Paula chirped, a basket full of fresh veggies at her side as she closed the door behind her, "My mother wanted to give your mom some homegrown vegetables." Paula explained as she dumped the basket on the table.

"What's going on?" she questioned as she gave King a brief scratch behind the ears and sat down at the table, her hands neatly folded as she studied Ness's look of disbelief and Tracey who was biting her lip to suppress laughter.

"Hey uh, how do you feel about spending the summer at Ginny's place?" Ness questioned, waving the letter in the air, "She invited us to attend a Qudditch match that's happening later."

"Sounds exciting." Paula chirped, then she frowned and narrowed her eyes at Ness, "There's a catch, right?"

"Well if spending a couple nights in a house full of robe wearing wizards and then attending a sport made by and for wizards sounds like a catch, sue me." Ness said with a small shrug.

"There all wizards?" Paula questioned, sounding a little hesitant.

"Yup, and there at least 9 Wesley's to deal with, not including Harry and Hermione." Ness added. Paula hesitated before she fiddled with her summer yellow ribbon which had replaced her satin pink for the summer.

Paula bit her lip, played with her dress, then her ribbon before she sighed and answered, "I'll come." Ness grinned and opened his mouth to say "Awesome!" when Paula quickly added, "But I'm bringing my frying pan and sewing kit! Just because I _need_ to get over my fear of cults-,"

"Which is perfectly understandable." Tracey interjected.

"Doesn't mean I'll go into a world of magic with just my PSI powers." Paula finished, "Now, what time are they supposed to pick us up?"

"We'll there supposed to pick me up via floo powder, whatever that is, And Ginny said that if we accepted then we'll leave two weeks before Augusts ends and I have to go back to being a 'wizard'."

"Flu powder?" Tracey questioned while King perked up, looking a little uneasy, _"You won't get sick from this. Right?"_

"Hope not." Ness said with a small shrug as Paula pursed her lips and thought for a bit, "Very well, then." Paula decided, "I might as well start packing for the big trip."

"You should pack as well Ness." Tracey teased, "Before you forget."

"I won't forget to pack my stuff, Tracey." Ness retorted.

"Sooo, you'll remember to pack your third-year books, your wand, your clothes for four seasons, your shoes, your potion ingredients and everything else?" Tracey asked, easily remembering every object from his school list with ease.

"Yes mother!" Ness playfully snapped earning a bark of laughter from King and twin eye rolls from the girls who knew he was going to forget.

* * *

 **One of the these days I shall figure out an update schedule that won't take me a full month to write and edit. T_T**

 **On the bright side though, I should be able to update faster since I'm attempting to write shorter chapters (Everything under 10,000 words is to short...) which should allow me to jump around when I'm writing and give me an extra chapter to fall back on when I'm late.**


	11. Chapter 11 A Burrow and a Qudditch Field

"What time did they say they'll be here?" Ness's mother asked for the 50th time, "They didn't say mom." Ness answered for the 50th time, "They just said, please have an open fireplace."

"Oh god." His father groaned, "They aren't going to torch the house down, are they?"

 _"I hope not. I like this house."_ King whimpered, then he looked at Ness and thumped his tail against the kitchen floor, _"Your friends aren't fire nuts. Riiiiggghhht?"_

"King, no one plays with fire." Ness deadpanned before he resumed eating his steak sandwich while eavesdropping on the girls. They had moved into the living room to discuss 'secret girly things' and had refused to let any of the boys in. Including King who was sulking since he used to be Tracey's secret keeper.

"Well, hopefully they get here before the pie gets cold." His mother sighed, wrinkling her apron for the 51th time.

"I think it already moved to the North pole, dear." His father joked, peering over his newspaper as he tried to hide a smile.

"Annnd with that, I'm off to crash the secret party-," Ness started to say when there was a loud scream, followed by a metal clank and someone cursing in pain.

"Jesus!" His mother exclaimed, "Lana—" she quickly stopped as they looked at the fireplace which was now on and burning a vibrate green. In front of the old fireplace was a balding man holding his head while Paula stood over him, a burning look of anger, fear and sheer determination in her eyes as Tracey armed herself with a broom.

"Mom! This man just came out of the fire place and-," Tracey started to say when someone else came out of the fireplace, a very familiar someone. Who promptly got knocked out by Paula who screamed, "You cultists will not harm anyone in this household!"

"Paula chill!" Ness yelped as third person came, "It's Ginny's family!"

"Wh..what?" Paula stammered as Ginny herself came through the fire looking worried, "Is everything alright?" Ginny coughed scrambling out of the ash tray and dusting off an oddly simple outfit of baggy cacki shorts and a tee-shirt, "I heard screaming and pain."

"Oh… That would be because of me." Paula said, her face a bright red as she slowly hid the weapon of mass destruction behind her back.

"Goodness! If you were going to come through the fireplace, then you should have told us!" his mother scolded.

"They came through the… is that even possible?" his Father questioned, looking a little pale.

"Don't worry." The second person Ron, said, "It's only temporary since your all Muggles."

"Mug what!?" Paula and Tracey yelped, brandishing their weapons with renewed anger and fear.

"Muggles, it's a wizard term for humans!" Ness yelped, grabbing the frying pan and broom before they could kill anyone. Of course, that didn't stop King from coming into the living room and attacking Mr. Weasly for a brief second then running upstairs yelling, _"I saved the day! Just, don't question it!"_

Earning a baffled look from Ginny and Ron, "Is that dog mad?" Ron questioned as he slowly got up.

"He's not mad. He's scared." Tracey protested.

"British slang for insane." Ness translated earning a horrified gasp from Tracey who waved her fist in the air at Ron's face, "Call King insane one more time and I'll show you the American slang for pain!" she threatened.

"I believe… We've already learned that one." Mr. Weasly groaned.

"Need an ice pack?" His father asked as the man slowly got up while a nasty bruised formed on his head.

"No, no. I'll be fine." Mr. Weasly answered, "Just. Need. The room to stop spinning."

"I'll get the ice." Paula volunteered, happy to have an excuse to disappear for a bit.

"And I'll get the hundreds of suitcases." Ness groaned, suddenly wishing that he had taken his Mother's advice in bringing everything downstairs _before_ the Weasly's came. When he finished lugging everything downstairs into the living room, Mr. Weasly was enjoying a cup of coffee and a cookie while Ginny, Tracey and his Mom talked about Hogwarts.

Paula was fiddling with her luggage and warily eyeing Ron who was watching King who had snuck downstairs under the pretense of protecting his family from the weird smelling people.

Of course, the Weaslys' didn't know about that part. Especially since King was muttering about what smell these weird people had.

"Well it was lovely meeting you." Mr. Weasly said giving his parents a smile, "But we really must be going,"

"Yea! I'm suppose to destroy Harry in Qudditch before dinner!" Ron recalled causing Ginny to shake her head slightly in disbelief.

"Oh of course." His mother said looking a bit lost for words, "Have a… safe journey you guys!"

"And try not to murder anyone with you frying pan, Paula." His father joked earning a half glare from Paula before she awkwardly shuffled forward with her suitcase, "So… What are we supposed to do?" Ness asked, "We just walk through the fires and flames, right?"

"That had better not be a pun." Paula murmured as Ron said, "Just step inside and yell 'the burrow' that's where we live."

"Seems easy." Ness said, grabbing his trunk and doing what Ron had said, he had barely finished saying 'burrow' then the flames roared around him and he launched forward, his lungs suddenly feeling with ash and hot air as the fire danced around him before spitting him out onto a faded checkered floor.

"Ow." Ness coughed as he scooted away from the fireplace and gasped for fresh air. "Okay… Through the Fire and Flames I will _not,_ carry on." He muttered as Paula burst through the flames and tumbled onto a musty rug.

"Do all wizards teleport through fire?" Paula groaned as she shoved her suitcase and frying pan away from the fireplace.

"Maybe? I thought they took trains." Ness admitted as Mr. Weasly, Ginny and Ron came through the fireplace as if they had just gotten off a train instead of flying through fire.

"Well then, I'll leave you guys to get to it, I have to return to work." Mr. Weasly said, tossing in some powder and yelling, "Ministry of Magic!" before walking through the flames.

"So, what's up?" Ness asked as he got to his feet and studied the cluttered yet somehow cozy living room, "Well first we can put these upstairs." Ron said, grabbing Ness's trunk with a small grunt, "Mum's put you in with Bill room since Charlie couldn't make it to the cup with us."

"Does this house just close in on you or…?" Ness questioned as he noticed just how narrow the hallway and stairs were becoming tighter, "It's not that bad," Ron said as he opened a door, revealing a somewhat messy room that had faded posters of monsters, dragons, ruins, a map and a bunch of notes taped to the far right of the room. There were two beds shoved against the wall, one that looked like had been recently been used while the other was a somewhat tidy yet forgotten mess.

"Wow. Cozy." Ness whistled as he entered the room and placed his trunk by the forgotten by, "So are Bill and Charlie the eldest brothers or…?"

"First and second eldest." Ron explained, "Percy is-," he stopped and quickly corrected himself, "WAS the third eldest but we've been in and out of touch with him."

Ness simply said, "Ah." As the girls came upstairs, Paula's suitcase safely tucked away in Ginny's room. They were talking about Qudditch and Ness could hear Paula groan "Why do I get the feeling that it's nothing like baseball." As Ginny pushed the door open.

"You guys ready to play?" she asked with a bright smile. Ness frowned while Ron happily perked up, the dark look that had appeared on his face from saying Percy's name disappearing completely, "Of course!"

"Prepare to find a hiding spot." Ness warned as they walked outside toward an open field past an overgrown garden and pond. Paula frowned slightly but didn't say anything until she spotted Harry flying through the air with a grin of pure happiness, "Oh no…" Paula groaned as Ness glowered at the brooms placed on the ground.

"Yea, I am still NOT getting on that wooden death trap." Ness deadpanned as Ginny grabbed an old broom and tossed one to Ness who merely avoided it with a shiver.

"Chicken." Ginny clucked before she climbed onto her own broom and kicked off, "Come on Ness! We need an extra player for Qudditch!" Harry yelled,

"The broom volunteers to play for me." Ness yelled back while Paula carefully picked it up and shivered, "I knew witches and wizards normally flew on brooms but now… It just seems a bit ridiculous."

"And utterly dumb," Ness added, "Harry's first game of the school year had him playing in hurricane weather."

"What!?" Paula exclaimed.

"It wasn't that bad!" Ginny retorted as she tossed a bright red ball to Ron who clumsily caught it, "Hurricane weather Ginny! And Selvis agreed with me!" Ness yelled before he walked over to a tree to take a nap.

Paula joined him and warily watched the four wizards flying around in the air, adjusting her bow every now and again as she tried to occupy her hands, "Sooo… What's with the over fidget?" Ness asked as she practically strangled her bow for the 50th time.

 _"You can't feel it?"_

He jumped then sighed and murmured, "Right, you can mentally talk to people," before he mentally replied, _"Besides that weird buzz of magic which I ignored on day one of being a wizard? Nope."_

 _"It's their minds,"_ Paula explained with a small shiver, _"You know how we can tap into animals' brains and read their minds, right?"_

 _"Right, I remember. You also connected our minds with everyone we knew so we could stop Giygas"_

 _"Well, for some reason I_ _ **feel**_ _like I can do the same here."_

 _"With Ginny?"_ Ness questioned, _"Since I sort of found a way to share what I could sense but…"_

 _"No, with everyone here, but at the same time. I can't."_

Ness frowned and looked at Paula who was looking extremely nervous, _"I don't why, but this entire place has me on edge, and that cold house isn't helping."_

 _"Cold? You're joking, right? That place was emotionally warm and physically thanks to the fires roaring in the kitchen."_

 _"Really? I've been feeling goosebumps ever since we got here."_

 _"Maybe you're sensing the magic? Although, I didn't feel anything when I was at Hogwarts, and that place is a fort_ _ **made**_ _with magic."_

Paula rolled her eyes slightly and said, _"Maybe you don't feel it since your better with physical PK while I'm more mental."_

Ness faked a gasp of horror and grabbed Paula's shoulder, _"Paula! I never knew you were insane!"_

 _"You know what I mean!"_ Paula snapped but she had a small smile on her face as she thought this, _"Think about it, I was the first person in our group to purposely use telepathy, elemental attacks and forming shields against Psi attacks while you were the one blasting people with physical status effects and making sure that we had okay HP."_

 _"Well when you put it like that, it makes sense why I had to think about using fire instead of just blasting the Dementors with a cascade of fire."_

 _"Demn what nows?"_

 _"Soul sucking monsters that tried to murder Harry and me a couple times."_ Ness casually explained as Paula covered her mouth to suppress a scream, "You didn't mention that in your letters!" Paula quietly snapped.

"Because I couldn't exactly explain what they were!" Ness protested, "I was busy playing the detective with no clues!"

"Like Scooby Doo?"

"No, since they can find clues. I was stuck playing secret agent/ Nancy Drew."

"You do realize that Nancy Drew's a headstrong girl who keeps forgetting to refuel her car, right?"

"…Okay, not Nancy Drew but still! You get the point."

"Sadly, I do." Paula sighed with a small smirk, causing Ness to roll his eyes at his friend, "Anyway, you'll only be here until the Qudditch Cup, then you can head home."

"Hopefully without murdering anyone." Paula muttered.

"Nah, you'll probably murder the house first-," Ness started to joke when they heard a shuffle of moment, "What was that?" Paula questioned as she peered around the oak tree and into an overgrown garden.

"Who knows? Maybe a flying frog." Ness joked as they got up and went to investigate the noise,.

"What a perfectly good garden gone to waste." Paula said, wrinkling her nose slightly as they approached a pond filled to the brim with frogs.

"I bet the frogs took over the garden in order to make Frog-topia."

"Are you sure? It looks more like mankind fell against the frog people and nature took over." Paula replied.

"If that happened, I blame their general, Captain Broom- whoa!" Ness jumped back as a small dirty potato man jumped out of the bushes, "What is that?" Paula questioned as they quickly took a step back.

"Some sort of magical monster I guess." Ness said as the potato man wandered toward frog pond, then glanced at them with a laugh.

"What's so funny ya walking potato?" Ness retorted as the little man laughed some more, summoning his buddies.

"All in favor of putting them on ice and hypnotizing them?" Paula asked.

"Waaay ahead of you." Ness replied as he used Hypnosis Omega and knocked out two of the small potato men. Paula put her hands out and dutifully turned the potato man into blocks of ice, one by one.

By the time the area was secured the entire garden was sparkling with melting snow. "Now what?" Ness asked as he nudged one of the sleeping potato men.

"I say we get one of the cult—wizards, we get one of the wizards to deal with them." Paula corrected, "Although, they appear to be Gnomes."

"Great, and just when I was getting over my fear of Garden gnomes." Ness lamented earning a strange look from Paula.

"Hey, that Santa Claus Gnome was out for blood." He protested as the back door opened and Ginny poked her head out, "Dinner's going to be ready in a-," she abruptly stopped when she saw the ice sculptors in the yard.

"Did you…?" Ginny questioned looking at Ness who pointed at Paula, "I just knocked two out, Paula froze the rest." Ness explained with a small shrug.

"It was either that or turning them into roast potatoes." Paula admitted with a small shrug, "She's a-," Ginny started to ask when she stopped herself, "Never mind, let's just toss them over the wall."

Paula turned three shades whiter as Ness snarked, "Why yes! Throwing a bunch of frozen creatures over a wall with force can't possibly end badly for us."

"Fine, we'll _gently_ throw them over the wall." Ginny amended, grabbing one of the ice sculptures and tossing it over the equally overgrown wall with a small throw.

"Do these things come around often?" Ness asked as they tossed the last Gnome over the wall and cleaned up the random shards of ice.

"Almost every day." Ginny answered, "We usually just throw them out but Dad doesn't want to fix the wall, says their funny little things."

"Funny like 'I'm going to murder you in the middle of the night' funny or?" Ness started to ask when Paula smacked him saying, "You know good and well what she means."

"Hey! My question is very important-," Ness protested when Ginny talked over him, "Anyway, dinner's ready."

"Does she have steak?" Ness questioned as they followed Ginny inside a crowded dining room, Mr. Weasly was back and sitting next to his wife who was fussing over something, she abruptly stopped when she noticed Paula and Ness take their seats besides Ginny and Fred.

"So you must be Paula!" Ms. Weasly exclaimed, studying Paula with a friendly smile, "Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Weasly." Paula replied returning the smile while she desperately thought, _"What, exactly has Ginny said about me?"_

 _"No clue, I mentioned you every now and again but I didn't give her much to go on."_ Ness glanced at Ginny who was looking a little nervous, _"Although… I think she told her mom that you're a wizard like me."_

 _"Oh dear…"_

 _"Don't worry! We can make this work… Hopefully."_ Ness said as food started to be passed around and light conversation was made, Ness happily placed some potatoes in gravy, cornbread and some chicken breast before he dipped his cornbread into the gravy and took a big bite.

For a moment, he felt a surge of carefully crafted food designed to warm the soul, like his Mother's cooking, then he felt a familiar itchy sensation on his tongue and throat as he swallowed. It reminded him of the time he had put on Harry's cloak only two times worse since the itching felt like it was _inside_ of body.

 _"Ness."_ He glanced at Paula who seemed to be feeling as uncomfortable as he felt, _"This food… it's lukewarm."_

 _"How so? My plate is practically a volcano of heat."_

 _"Well, yes on the outside it's piping hot but on the inside."_ Paula bit her lip and hid her nervousness by taking a small sip of water as she tried to find the words, _"It feels like someone just made the dish for others to enjoy without putting in any effort."_

 _"Magic."_ Ness guessed, _"Ms. Weasly's a witch, so she probably just magicked the food onto the table."_

 _"But I saw her cooking."_

 _"Okay, she magicked the kitchen to speed up the cooking."_ Ness decided as he glanced at everyone else who seemed perfectly content and happy with their meals as they ate and chat, _"But how did you notice that? I'm busy fighting the urge to bite my tongue from this weird itching sensation I'm feeling."_

 _"Same. I don't know why though…."_

"So, Paula." Hermione started, causing the two PSI beings to jump slightly in surprise, "What school do you go to?"

Paula briefly frowned in confusion before Ness hurriedly answered, _"Magic school, not muggle school."_ Allowing Paula to fake a small smile and answer, "Nowhere special, just a small everyday magic school near Pennsylvania."

"Oh! Is it Penn's Woods Academy?" Hermione asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement, Paula nodded but didn't add on as Hermione started talking about how interesting Penn's Woods Academy was but also how small and cramped it seemed in the books.

While Paula was handling Hermione, Mr. Weasly asked Ness about his school year, which prompted Harry and Hermione to briefly shot him looks of 'be careful about what you say' before they returned to their own conversations.

And since Ness was sure that Selvis would murder him for putting out the fact that he and Ginny were friends with a Slytherin he had been forced to talk about classes, the whole Black event and make up some lies about what he did on his off days all while enduring the constant itching feeling that ran up and down his spine as he ate.

 _"This. Is going to be a very long week."_ Ness mentally declared as he, Paula, Harry, Hermione and the Weasly children headed to bed before to prepare for a very early school shopping trip.

And the week was indeed, long. From explaining the various rules of wizardry that he knew to Paula as they headed to Diagon Alley from the constant questions that Bill, -who had arrived late- asked coupled with how the twins left prank objects all over the place for them to stumble on. (Paula and Ness did dish out some payback in the form of PSI hypnosis and flash)

To Ms. Weasly fussing over Paula who had been attempting to put some normal human magic into her food (A.K.A cooking it by hand and _not_ with a wand.) to reduce the constant allergy reaction they felt despite the woman's insistence that they were guests. They both considered the day to head to the World Cup a godsend despite the fact that they were woken up at roughly 4 AM in the morning to hike out to some hill to reach their destination.

"At least we're walking there." Paula muttered as she adjusted the backpack she had been assigned which hid her frying pan, "There's nothing more relaxing than hiking to the action filled stadium." Ness commented, being the only other person besides Mr. Weasly who was wide awake.

"Are you always this chipper at four in the morning?" George complained, sending him a glare with the help of his twin.

"Nope! Only when I'm going to see a sport in action!" Ness replied beaming them both a huge grin.

"Air Volleyball is a sport?" Paula questioned who had more or less turned Qudditch into said Air Volleyball since it was basically passing the ball back and forth for long periods of time.

"Qudditch." Ron grumpily corrected as they reached the top of the hill to see piles of garage scattered around the hill with no signs of a magical stadium or life.

"Uh, Mr. Weasly, why on earth are we at this once beautiful hill?" Ness asked.

"Ah! Right," Mr. Weasly exclaimed, "Muggle-borns, keep forgetting that." Unsure if he should feel offend or not, Ness said nothing, "We're looking for a Portkey," Mr. Weasly explained, "It's another version of transportation among wizards, you just charm an object to take you to a certain place and 'whoosh'! you're there." He pulled out his wand and made scanning gestures with his arm, "Of course, you can't make the object to noticeable, no, then Muggles would pick it up and be teleported instead, so we've turned the Qudditch World Cup portkey into a random piece of garage which won't interest Muggles."

 _"And now I have to be afraid of garage. Lovely."_ Paula groaned.

 _"Why would you pick up garage in the first place?"_ Ness questioned as Bill, pulled out his own wand to help his father find the portkey, he and the other non-certified wizards were instructed to try and find anything that stood out of place among the hill.

They didn't need to look for too long as someone yelled, "Oy! Weasly! Over here boy!" causing everyone to look up and see a ruddy face man jumping up and down on the far side of the hill with a huge grin on his face, "Amos!" Mr. Weasly exclaimed, "Good to see you old chap!" making his way over to the man who had someone standing next to him.

"Children, this is Amos Diggery, he works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." Mr. Weasly introduced, he gestured to the tall boy beside Amos who looked very familiar, "And you already know his son, C-," before Mr. Weasly could finish Ness finally realized why the boy had seem so familiar.

"Cedric Diggery, right?" Ness recalled, "You were on team Hufflepuff during the Dementor attack!"

Cedric nodded and had a small nervous smile as the others minus Paula who didn't know him and Fred and George who appeared to be holding a grudge against the boy, exchanged polite hellos.

After that was done the two men started to exchange friendly conversation while Paula fiddled with her backpack straps, "So, these are all your kids?" Amos asked, studying the small army behind him.

"Oh no, the redheads are all mine, but Harry and Hermione are Ron's friends," Mr. Weasly explained, pausing briefly to put Harry and Hermione out, "And Ness and Paula are Ginny's friends."

"It's nice to meet you." Paula said with a small smile.

"Hold on, I know I've heard of a Ness and Paula in the news but…" Amos frowned and scratched his head, "Where have I heard those names…?" when he couldn't remember he shrugged and clapped a hand on Cedric's back ignoring the premature bright red flush of embarrassment on his son's face, "Any who! Harry Potter, right? The one and only?"

 _"Why do I sense extreme discomfort from Harry?"_ Paula questioned as Harry nodded his head yes, _"Probably because he's a huge celebrity in the Wizarding World, we're just cartoon characters to them."_

 _"…I feel insulated."_

 _"Eh, look on the bright side, at least we aren't suffering like Harry."_ Ness pointed out as Harry looked around for help after Amos talked about how beating the legendary Harry Potter would be a story for Cedric's grandchildren to hear, ignoring the flustered argument that Harry had fallen of his broom, which was the only reason why HufflePuff had won that round.

Mr. Weasly quickly suggested that they find the portkey and leave before they were officially late for the game. The portkey was easy to find however, since it was a random boot sticking out of a pile of trash bags and it was even easier to use since you just needed to grab a small corner and tap your wand to it.

At first, Ness thought _"This isn't going to be so bad."_ Then he discovered that Portkey teleportation was like going through a chimney while traveling through time at the same time while something wrapped around your waist and pulled you forward like a cartoon character being dragged off with those giant canes.

It seemed like forever until they landed on a grassy pasture and stared up at the sky. "Ginnny…." Ness groaned once the sky and ground stopped merging together, "I hate wizard transportation."

"Why couldn't we have just taken a train…" Paula groaned as everyone found their bearings.

"At least the hard part is over." Ginny offered, although she looked a little sea-sick as they stood up and followed Amos and Mr. Weasly into a crowded campground.

It was an interesting set up process since Mr. Weasly had to struggle with Muggle money before they were given a lot and number to set up camp, then Hermione, Ness and Paula had to help Harry and the Weasly set up their magical tents before Ness and Paula could set up their own tent. (Thank goodness for paranoid baseball Dad for slipping one into his trunk.)

Then once that was done Mr. Weasly allowed them to go shopping for trinkets before they had to find their seats and say hello to some of his coworkers. "Huh, just like a baseball stadium." Ness noted as he guided Paula and Ginny through the crowd with expert ease, "It is?" Ginny yelled, winching as a young wizard child caused a toad to explode before his frazzled mother could grab the wand and scold him.

"Yup! Only difference is that everyone here is a wizard and that the mascots are… interesting." Ness replied as he guided Paula away from a grumpy tiny man who was waving his arms.

"Ah…" Ginny mused as Paula gripped her hand bag like it was about to be stolen from her. Ness noticed this and laughed, "Chill Paully, we'll be fine."

"After all, you can just stop him—just like that." Ginny said, snapping her fingers to prove her point.

"I hope you're right." Paula murmured as she uneasily studied the obvious wizards wearing everyday clothing, "I'd don't want to be kidnapped again."

"Oh look! Store booth!" Ness said, leading them to a bright green stand that had giant four leaf clovers, oddly shaped binoculars, snacks and green themed pendants.

"Step right up kiddos!" the store keeper yelled, "Green's the way to go if you're rooting for Ireland! Just 13 sickles a piece!"

"Sickles?" Paula murmured as Ness fished out his money pouch which was a bit heavier than normal, "Sliver coins." Ginny explained as she accepted Ness's money pouch and studied the selection, "So, who wants what?"

Paula was about to ask for one of the four leafed clovers when it burst into song, singing about Ireland's greatness.

"Heck no." Paula and Ness said in unison as Ginny laughed and picked up two pendants and a signing clover.

"You. Are evil." Ness declared as Ginny happily poked and prodded the four-leaf clover to life just to annoy Paula and Ness, who were severally creeped out by the giant singing badge since it was acting a lot like a monster.

"If that thing burns in the night, then you know who did it." Paula threatened as they returned to the camp ground, "Who? Ness?" Ginny teased as Ness retorted, "I won't burn it alive, I'll just leave it floating near a tree."

"So I have a pyromaniac and a friend of mother nature." Ginny mused, "And here I thought I just had two-,"

"Who's that?" Paula suddenly interrupted as they spotted Mr. Weasly, Harry and company talking to a man with a huge smile wearing Qudditch robes that were black and yellow with a giant hornet across his sweater.

"I think that's Ludo Bagman, he's in charge of setting up big events like this." Ginny replied, careful to keep her voice low as Bagman gave a loud laugh.

"And the grumpy guy next to him?" Ness questioned.

"Percy's new boss." Ginny muttered, "Mr. Crouch. I can't remember his first name for some reason."

"And they all work at the Ministry?"

"Yup."

"Then let's go thatta-," Ness began to say when Bagman spotted Ginny's bright red hair and Ness's cap, "Ah! And you three must be Ginny, Ness and Paula!" Bagman boomed, announcing their presence to the entire group with ease.

"Sup." Ness causally answered as Paula slid her hand into his, squeezing it tight as they walked closer to the jolly man.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Bagman." Paula carefully said as she nervously studied his robe and Mr. Crouch's grumpy expression, "You two were in the news, right?" Bagman asked ignoring the glare he was getting from Mr. Crouch and Percy as he changed the subject.

"I suppose so, we're muggleborns so we don't have close contact with the wizarding world." Ness lied.

"Ah, shame, bloody shame." Bagman mused before he brightened, "Then again, I suppose it's a good thing you didn't know about your heritage since it was our mess that you cleaned up."

 _"Your mess?"_ Paula mentally questioned, _"It was a grief stricken Alien's fault everything came to life! Not a wizarding experiment."_

"Right, right." Ness simply said as Ginny happily flashed her four leaf clover at Ron, "It was only ten sickles!" she exclaimed, "And they also had Omnioculars for sale!"

"You're joking." Ron retorted, although he looked awestruck, "They still had some left?"

"An army's worth." Ginny boasted as the adults slowly returned to their private conversation.

"What are we waiting for?!" Ron grabbed Harry and Hermione and pulled them down the path, "Come on! Omnioculars are practically required for official Qudditch games!"

"We'll see you at the seats Mr. Weasly!" Ness chirped as they headed back toward the sales booth.

"H-hold on!" Bagman yelled, "You wanna have a bet on-," before he could even finish his question Paula curtly retorted, "Bets are a fools gamble and ruins the sport of a game. _Especially_ if money is involved."

"I like betting." Ness muttered, then he recoiled from the fierce glare Paula sent him, "Chill! I only bet baseball cards with Tracey and Dad, nothing to big."

"You better." Paula huffed as Ginny and Ron chatted about classmates they had seen on their walk to set up camp.

Ness happily tuned them out as Paula tried to admire the nature around them, and not strangle Ginny who was still poking at her four leaf clover.

"Traitors." Ness growled when he spotted Ron and Harry picking up their own singing four leaf clovers.

"What? You're rooting for Bulgaria?" Ron questioned, his eyes widening slightly.

"No, there just planning on murdering the singing clovers." Ginny answered with a small laugh, as Paula retorted "It's creepy, nerve wracking and it deserves to be put out of its misery."

"I think it's sort of cute." Hermione mused as she studied a giant green leprechaun hat, "Like the gnomes?" Ness questioned, "Since they were certainly _not_ cute."

"They are funny though." Ginny reminded him.

"Little potato people with sharp teeth and nails are not funny!" Paula and Ness snapped, before they glanced at each other in surprise and looked away, silently deciding to say quiet until the Qudditch Match started.

One shopping trip later they were following the line of wizards and witches as they approached the looming stadium, "Seats a hundred thousand." Mr. Weasly was saying as Harry and Ness gazed up at the enormous stadium. "Ministry task force of at least five hundred wizards have been working on this all year, making sure that the Muggle Repelling Charms would be set to last for the entire game."

"Muggle what now?" Paula questioned, as Ness suddenly felt the urge to check on something important, he didn't know what that important thing was, but it felt urgent.

"It's a charm that makes any Muggles wandering around in a 30 foot radius of the stadium suddenly remember an important appointment." Mr. Weasly explained, "It would be a huge hassle to keep guards posted to keep wiping their memories to ensure that they don't see anything."

"Ah." Paula simply said as she glanced at Ness whose awestruck expression melted into a small 'oh.'

"Anyway we better pick up the pace." Mr. Weasly hummed, "We have Top Seats."

"Wow! How did you get those?" Fred asked.

"Did you win a bet?" George questioned.

"Barty Crouch actually gave them to me." Mr. Weasly explained, frowning slightly, "He seemed intrigued about Ness and Paula for some reason…"

Ginny, Ness and Paula exchanged worried looks while Harry, Hermione and Ron raised eyebrows all silently wondering what Crouch found intriguing about two 'Muggleborn' wizards who attended two completely different schools. It was equally unnerving to know that it was a high-class member of the Ministry who seemed intrigued by them.

Did Mr. Crouch know that Ness wasn't a wizard? Or did he find his style of 'magic' interesting and wished to talk him about it? Whatever it was it was sending shivers down his spine as a Ministry Witch pointed them toward a long set of stairs.

"I'll never understand how sky box seats are the best seats in the house." Ness grumbled as they finally reached the top to see that they practically towered over the rest of the seats and they were stationed by the announcer's box.

"Blimey!" George and Fred whistled as they quickly found their seats and admire the interior, "Magical store banners." Ness mused as he spotted a running picture billboard in the sky broadcasting brooms, tonics and other wizarding supplies.

"What's that?" Paula asked as she sat down pointing toward a small wrinkled creature wearing a tea towel. Harry followed her gaze and blinked in surprise, "Dobby? Is that you?" Harry asked, squinting his eyes as the morning sun bounced off the gold plating surrounding the stadium.

"Dobby? What's a Dobby?" Ness questioned. Apparently, 'Dobby' didn't know either since it or she looked up in surprise, "Did sir call me Dobby?" the creature squeaked, her giant bat ears tilting in surprise.

"Sorry, you reminded me of a house-elf I know." Harry apologized, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Ah! But I knows Dobby sir," the elf said, "I'm Winky sir, and you—you are-," she frowned and squinted her eyes as the sunlight dimmed, "Ah! You bes Harry Potter! Surely is you!" Winky exclaimed, her ears fluttering and her eyes widening in surprise.

"Yes, he be the boy who lives." Ness joked as he poked Harry's side. He jumped when Winky gasped and pointed at his eyes, "Oh! You must be Ness Earthbound! You were in the news you were!"

"Uh… Thanks?" Ness said, now feeling uncomfortable at how awestruck Winky was. He had just gotten used to being ignored and now he was being hailed as a hero once again.

"So how do you know Dobby?" Harry questioned, "Are you friends with him?"

"Oh no." Winky said shaking her head violently, "I had to stop being friends when being free went to his head, it did." She twisted her tea towel and fearfully said, "I don't mean no disrespect sir, but I think freeing Dobby was a mistake, it was."

"How so?"

"He's asking to be _paid._ " Winky whispered, her eyes wide with fear and slight disgust, "Like a wizard!"

"Well what's wrong with that?" Ness asked, "I mean, magical creatures that have a basic understanding of the wizarding world has similar rights as people, right?"

"House elves aren't to be paid, sir," Winky exclaimed, "It goes against everything a house-elf means! When I last saw Dobby I tried to set him straight—told him to find a nice family to serve and be content with what he has before he's placed in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures like a common goblin, I said." she wrung her hands and shakily glanced down at the ground, "House-elves are just supposed to do what their told, no more, no less. That's why I'm up here, keeping Mr. Crouch's seat even though I'm afraid of h-heights!"

"Hey don't worry," Ness offered, "If you want my friend can give you a book to study while you wait for your Master to come."

"Oh no, sir!" Winky spluttered as she twisted her nimble fingers into small knots, "I can't distract myself with a book! No, what would Mr. Crouch think?"

"Well, you're just saving his seat, right?" Ness questioned, frowning slightly at Winky's outburst, "He wouldn't get mad if you distracted yourself for a bit, and if he does then he can just yell at me if you're afraid of getting into trouble."

Winky flushed and stammered some more before Ness finally dropped the subject, "Alright, no book, okay? It was just a suggestion."

"T-thank you for that kind sir." Winky feebly muttered before Ness looked at Harry and Ron who also seemed surprised by Winky's outburst.

"Are all House-elves that weird?" Ness questioned.

"Dobby was weirder." Harry firmly said as the girls studied the velvet red program with interest, "Ness, they said they'll be showing mascots from Ireland and Bulgaria." Paula pointed out.

"So people dressed up as giant four leaf clovers and… Whatever Bulgaria has?" Ness questioned.

"No, according to the program they'll be bring out _real_ magical creatures from their homeland." Ginny exclaimed her eyes alight with excitement.

"Huh, this World Cup might not be so bad after all." Ness decided.

Then Ron groaned and hissed, "Look who's here." They quickly looked up to see Mr. Weasly who had been jumping up and down from his seat to greet co-workers and important wizards gave a curt strained smile at a man and woman with practically white blond hair and unpleasant expressions, beside them was Draco Malfoy who was scanning their row with an unpleasant sneer.

Which quickly vanished when Ness smiled and waved hello, then the blank look became one of slight horror as Paula did the same.

"He could have waved back." Paula muttered watching Malfoy retreat to the far end of the booth with his parents.

"Amazing." Was all Harry could say as Ginny shook her head muttering something about him being like Selvis while she stifled a laugh.

"Why did you do that?" Ron asked, "Why did you wave hello like he was your best friend?"

"Well it would have been rude just to stare at him." Ness said with a small shrug before he started scanning the packed booth, everyone was wearing either bright greens or a dull red and were talking to each other in different language.

Cornelius Fudge seemed to be playing charades with one man who had a permanent look of confusion look on his face which would quickly vanish into silent laughter as Fudge looked around for help. Which Mr. Weasly was unable to give, half an hour passed before Bagman said something to Fudge that was lost in the quiet buzz of conversation

Ness frowned then abruptly jumped in surprise as Bagman pointed his wand at his throat, yelled a spell and amplified his voice as it suddenly boomed around the stadium. The magical billboard was wiped clean with magic and replaced with two bold scorecards.

 **"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 422 Qudditch World Cup!"** Bagman announced, causing a roar of cheering to float up from the seats below and a din of voices started singing national anthems and waved their bright colored flags in the air.

"Awesome right!" Ness yelled as he waved his own flag in the air.

"Loud." Was Paula's reply as Ginny happily made her pin sing along with a huge grin on her face.

 **"And now, without further ado, the Bulgarian Team Mascots!"**

An even louder roar rose up from the left wing which was a solid block of red as music filled the stadium. For a moment, Ness was excited, then he felt the familiar alarm of danger blaring in the back of his mind as Mr. Weasly yelled, "Veela!" even though his voice sounded like he was underwater and a thousand feet away as a hundred beautiful woman glided into the center field, their ghostly pale skin and white blond hair trailing behind them as they started to dance.

Ness felt someone digging their nails into his arm as he tried to look away to focus on healing and removing the 'strange' feeling he was getting. It seemed like forever until the creatures stopped dancing and glided away earning angry yells from the crowd who were desperate to the see the monsters dance some more.

"Good lord!" Paula snapped as Ness looked up, "Why on earth would they bring such- such ugh I can't even think of the right word!"

"What? What was I doing?" Ness asked as he saw Harry standing up with an equally confused look on his face and Ron looking ready to jump off the sky box and onto the grass.

"Apparently, Veela are sirens." Ginny explained as she watched Ron shred the four leaf clover on his hat, "Who are very, very persuasive."

"…I wasn't doing anything dumb, right?" Ness asked as Mr. Weasly stopped Ron and pointed back to the field.

"Actually, you were just looking at them with a half n half expression." Paula explained, giving him a knowing look, "You looked like you were infatuated with them but also wanted to beat them up."

"Well it's a good thing I decided to heal myself rather then blast them with an Omega Rockin," Ness sheepishly muttered as he averted his eyes from the Veela who had lined up singl file on one side of the field.

 **"And now! Kindly put your hands together for Ireland's mascots!"**

The crowd half clapped their hands with slight disappointment until green fireworks shot out of the pit, soaring into the sky and leaving trails of rainbow behind them are the dove around the seating area. That sent everyone into a loud roar of cheering as the fireworks tossed gold coins into the crowd.

"There Leprechauns!" Paula realized as Ness stretched his hat to catch some of the gold, "Hopefully their keeping a close eye on their Lucky Charms!" Ness joked as he caught a couple coins and passed them to Ginny and Paula while Ron nearly dove out the box once more to catch the gold.

"Aww… They aren't chocolate coins." Ness sulked earning a soft backhand.

"That's what you get for talking about Lucky Charms." Paula playfully chided. The tiny men formed a giant clover before they headed over to Ireland's section of the field allowing Bagman to announce the team players as they spilled out one by one, earning loud roars and cheers as the meet at the center field, did the usual team captain handshake before they mounted their brooms.

"I have absolutely no idea what's going on." Paula admitted as the teams kicked off, shooting toward the sky to grab the quaffle and to search for the snitch.

"But it's awesome, right?" Ness yelled as he tried to watch Troy steal the quaffle from L-something, Ness quickly forgot since the action was happening to fast for Ness to process. All he could do was watch as s each team seamlessly passed, blocked and smacked bluddgers at their opponents. Causing their mascots to cheer, jeer and start arguments on the ground. The game had only started mere moments ago, and already Ireland was in the lead with 20 points. Causing the Veela to sulk and glower at the Leprechauns who were cheering their little hearts out.

"Oh god!" Paula yelped as Victor dove down as if to find the snitch causing Lynch to do the same but earned himself a broken nose after a violent crash.

"So, this is football volleyball." Ness joked,

Ginny whimpered, "There's so much blood." As she leaned on Charlie who tried his best to reassure her.

"He's buying himself time." Harry realized, his eyes fixed on Krum who was indeed scanning the field for the snitch as medics came onto the field and quickly fixed Lynch up. Earning loud cheers from the green clad fans as Lynch shot back up into the sky with a surge of energy that seemed to be passed onto his teammates.

Causing them to play with vigorous energy and score 130 points as the crowd cheered, booed and stamped their feet as Bulgaria tried their best, and hardest to stop Ireland from taking the lead.

"Well this is a first." Ness noted as the referee—who had been flexing his muscles and trying to appear like a cool guy to the agitated Veela who had been dancing after Lynch slammed into to ground—tried to kick the Veela off the field after someone had brought him back to his senses.

"He's never going to live that down!" Ron howled as the Bulgaria team landed to argue with the ref who was angrily trying to get his point made. The Veela made indigent gestures while the Leprechauns spelled, "Ha-ha" for the entire argument.

After that, Bulgaria seemed to annoyed with their low lead and the argument they had with the ref. Their tempers were high and it was clear that all rules of been temporally forgotten as they gave Ireland free shots and more points. Which only agitated their mascots who started singing and dancing more frequently as the Leprechauns jeered and cheered much more aggressively.

"You know, I always saw Football as a pointless sport to slaughter each other in." Paula yelled, "I take it back, Qudditch is the new death sport."

"It's not that bad!" Ness retorted, then he noticed how deformed and hideous the Veela were turning and the frequent fouls, "Never mind!"

"OH! He's diving again!" Ginny yelled as Harry yelled, "He's going to crash again!" and pointed at Lynch, who did indeed slam into to ground as Victor soared up holding the snitch with a small triumphant smile which turned into a frown when Bagman yelled, **"Ireland wins! 170-160!"**

"That's it?" Ness said as a bloodied Lynch flew up into the air did a victory lap around the stadium, "I thought it would be longer."

"Ness, we've been sitting here for at least two hours." Paula deadpanned, "I've had enough excitement for one day."

"Ireland number one!" Ginny cheered as Fred and George cheered and started poking Bagman for something, while Harry and Ron started talking about the many strategies that were in play and about how Krum knew his team wasn't going to catch up in time.

"Sooo?" Ness questioned, as a flurry of activity buzzed around them, "It wasn't that bad, right?"

"Oh, all right." Paula huffed, "It was better than I expected." Giving him a small smile as they stood up and inched toward the exit, "I suppose that wizards aren't cultists after all." Paula mused a she watched Fudge look at the man he had been signing to the entire day in disbelief as he spoke with a heavy accent, a look of mirth on his face as Fudge spluttered and groaned.

"Today. Is awesome." Ness declared with a huge grin. Then, the world blew up.


	12. Chapter 12, Attack of the Masked Wizards

To be fair, the day and world didn't exactly blow up, it was the _next day_ that Ness started to regret saying today was awesome. After a long walk back home filled with the excited buzz of chatting and hot coco at the campfire, Ness, Harry and Ron had somehow fallen asleep in their tent despite the fact that all three of them had declared that they weren't tired.

And, at the time they weren't despite not completely understanding the game or what was going on Ness still felt like he was in the stadium surrounded by the cheering crowds and the roars of anger. Ron and Harry were actually chatting about the match going over and over again about the afternoon before they started talking about school.

Something Ness protested against talking about as he reminded them how much he had been running around like a headless chicken, "I'd rather not have some dangerous side quest to do, thank you very much." Ness huffed before he burrowed under his sleeping bag as Ron teased him for a bit.

Then, he heard shouting, lots and lots of shouting.

"Boys! Get up this is urgent!"

"Not as urgent as me sleeping off a fake sugar rush." Ness groaned, forcing his eyes to open as he grabbed his hat, then he felt a surge energy as his battle instincts kicked in. They were under attack.

"Move!" Ness ordered, roughly shaking his tent-mates awake before he shoved his shoes and coat on and scrambled outside. The loud victory cheers that had carried into the night were gone, replaced by frighten screams and whimpers as Ness spotted the cause of chaos.

A group of masked wizards clumped in a group were marching forward in a slow rhythm as they held up four squirming figures, figures who were being contorted and twisted around as if they were Barbie dolls in the hands of toddlers instead of grown men while the wizards laughed and jeered at them.

"What's going on?" Ron slurred as he and Harry tumbled out of the tent, "Trouble." Ness growled as a surge of anger appeared, he needed to help those poor people, he needed those masquerading idiots to stop ruining this peaceful event with their twisted ideas of fun he needed to-,

"Ness!" he jumped as Paula grabbed him her nightgown a wrinkled mess as her short hair was pulled into a high night bun, "Paula they-," Ness started to protest when the others appeared, the eldest Weasly boys with their wands and the girls looking frightened and confused.

"We're going to help the Ministry." Mr. Weasly said, "You lot, get to the woods! It'll be safe there!"

Ness opened his mouth to protest that he and Paula could help when her voice sliced through his thoughts _"Keep. Your. Mouth. Shut."_ She ordered as they mutely nodded their heads and scrambled into the woods.

"This is sick and wrong." Hermione mumbled, her face a pasty white as she spotted the female figure being held up upside down, her ruffled bloomers showing as she desperately tried to cover herself.

"Filthy Cultists." Paula muttered, then she stifled a yelp as her anger exploded in a form of bright orange beams, _"Fire Alpha."_ Ness realized as it hit a masked wizard in the center of the group and set him aflame. The jeer, hoots and cries of laughter quickly morphed into ones of horror and fear as someone screamed, "I'm on fire!" which was quickly followed by cries of, "Put em' out! Put him out!"

And, "Whose the bloody idiot who did that?!"

In the wizards hast to stop the spreading fire which was quickly latching onto their comrades, the magic keeping the figures afloat disappeared, causing them to drop a short distance before Ness panicked and mentally ordered, _"Stop!"_

Breathing a sigh of relief as they quickly stopped in mid-air, _"Return home."_ Ness tried, picturing the figures entering a house one that filled them with safety and relief. The figures shuddered for a bit before a faint blue light enveloped them and disappeared.

 _"Impressive."_ Was all Paula could say as Ginny grabbed their arms and hissed, "Come on! Before they-,"

"Over there!" a burning wizard yelled, "There's someone over there!"

"Peanuts." Ness groaned as Paula pulled her frying pan out of her night bag and glowered at the wizards, keeping a close eye on them as they ran into the woods, tripping and stumbling over roots and rocks until they dove behind a giant oak tree.

"So…" Ginny panted, "Who did what?"

"Explain. Later." Ness replied, a small trickle of danger running down his neck as he armed himself with a sturdy branch, "Right now we need to find the others and hide before those sick jerks find us."

"Right, but where are they?" Ginny asked as she grabbed a branch and pressed herself against the tree, as if she was trying to become one with the tree to hide herself.

"Can't tell, it's too dark and I can't exactly pinpoint where everyone is." Paula panted.

"You can pinpoint people?" Ginny questioned.

"She has telepathy power." Ness explained, "That's how we meet, she called out for help and I heard her, along with Jeff and Poo."

"And I have the freaking cultists to thank for finding quickly learning that particular skill." Paula grumbled.

"Look on the bright side! Ness chirped, "At least we're safe." And then as if to jinx Ness's statement, his battle senses went off, alerting him to three masked wizards who were sneaking up from behind, he glanced at Paula who nodded and pulled out her frying pan ignoring the questioning look they received from Ginny as they stood up and faced the three.

"Now!" Ness ordered as he jumped forward and swung his branch as if he was hitting a home-run, _"Wizard/cultist A down!"_ a message yelled as he spun and used the left over momentum from the first swing to strike the second wizard who was in the process of yelling, _Crucio!"_ but was knocked down before he could finish the spell as Ness connected and sent him stumbling, losing 200 hit points as he fell onto the ground in a slight daze.

He glanced at Paula who had slammed her frying pan into the third enemy's shins and jumped back, probably preparing to use a PSI attack.

"Fine! Just keep an eye on your guy!" Paula yelled, already predicting Ness's question as she performed Freeze Alpha, causing her wizard to stiffen as icy blue waves of powdered snow engulfed him, "What's this?!" he demanded as he brought up his wand to try and attack back.

He barely got the words out as Ness jumped from his opponent and used Flash Beta. Causing both wizards to collapse to the ground and twitch uncontrollable.

A message yelling _"Battle won!"_ appeared as he and Paula whacked the wizards over their heads with their weapons to ensure that they were properly knocked out.

"It's safe Ginny." Ness called as Ginny peered around the tree in surprise, "No wonder PSI users were banned." She whispered, "You took them down just like that!"

"We're banned?" Paula asked looking confused.

"In the wizarding world." Ness clarified as he gave the wizards a wary glance, hoping they didn't have any defense charms or something to alert their friends, "And apparently, for good reason."

Ginny nodded in agreement and looked around, "We should find Harry and the others." She gave the masked wizards a wary look and added, "Before anyone else finds us."

"I doubt that we're going to be left alone just like that." Ness grumbled, eyeing his now bent branch and hefting it over his shoulder as they started to trek through the dark woods. Careful to keep Ginny in-between them since she didn't have her wand with her which made her a vulnerable target.

They were slowly making their way to a faint green blob of light which Paula sensed to be Hermione's when they overheard someone sneered. "I considered the fact that you weren't up their showing off you knickers a miracle Granger, especially with your status."

"Ahoy!" Ness yelled as he recognized that somewhat nasty voice, causing the green light to jump as they sprinted forward, "You guys okay?" as the approached, Ness could make out Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy looking at them in surprise, probably because their clothes were lightly covered in dirt.

"Ness? Why are you-," Harry started to ask when Ginny tackled her older brother in a hug, "For once I'm glad to see that annoyed scowl." She huffed as she quickly pulled away and gave Malfoy a half annoyed yet forcibly worried look, "Is everyone okay?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, it's nothing much, just got attacked by three masked weridos, no biggie." Ness said with a small little shrug, "We beat the tar out of them and started looking for you guys."

Ron paled slightly as Malfoy sneered, "See what I told you?" and earned a brash, "Shut it Malfoy!" from Ron who looked ready to punch him, only to be pulled back by Harry and Hermione who were muttering, "It's not worth it."

Paula and Ness exchanged looks while Ginny stiffened and glanced at Hermione with a worried look.

 _"What are they so worried about?"_

Paula asked as Ness recalled Malfoy saying something about status—Oh… Right, wizards had that Pureblood, Muggleborn blood line going on, and the cult—wizards. They were wizards, did go after those Muggles first, and then caught up to Ness and Paula probably guessing they were either muggleborns or bold preteens who were fond of the muggles to start the fire in an attempt to save them.

Which meant that he, Paula and Hermione had glowing targets on their backs.

"Thanks for the warning Malfoy!" Ness chirped, "I hadn't even thought that those freaks would be going after muggles, I thought they were just terrorists." Malfoy sent him a blank look as Ness turned to his friends, "Come on, let's go try and find somewhere safe to hide."

Ron blinked at him in disbelief while Paula looked with Malfoy with a worried frown, "Can you handle yourself okay?" Paula asked, "Status or not there's no telling what could happen if a stray spell flies your way."

That comment caused Malfoy to lean back in surprise turn the blank look into one of disgust, "I'm a pureblood." He grounded out, "And I, am perfectly safe from those wizards."

"If you say so." Ness said, flashing him a grin, "But if you get into a tight spot, grab a branch and treat it like a baseball bat." He waved his broke branch in the air to prove his point, "You can't cast spells if your doubled over in pain after all!"

Malfoy pressed against the tree trunk in disgust and sent them angry glares as they started to walk away. He seemed like he wanted to say something but was at a loss for words.

When they were out of ear shot and further away from the sudden explosions Paula wrung her frying pan and glanced behind them, "I do hope his parents are raising him right." Earning a startled look from Harry and Ron, "You're joking." Ron deadpanned as Harry added, "Malfoy's a top-class jerk!"

"Well, he much tamer than I jerk I knew." Ness muttered as he remembered Porky, who had so nicely used him as a body shield and sacrifice until he back-stabbed him completely by joining the enemy team.

"Besides, he isn't a complete jerk, he had the decency to warn us in his own little way." Paula pointed out.

"By berating Hermione!?" Ron spluttered.

"He could have kept quiet," Paula softly argued, "Or, alerted the cultists, after all, those explosions seemed quite close to us but instead he chose to taunt you."

"Which, for a Slytherin seems to be their way to show affection." Ness joked, recalling all the times Selvis had mocked or jeered at Ness but actually had something slightly helpful underneath all those cruel words.

"Slytherin?" Paula questioned.

"House system." Harry clarified, "Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Ness and I are all in the Gryffindor house."

"The best house in the entire school." Ron boasted while Harry continued, "Malfoy's in the Slytherin house, which is known for having dark wizards and witches. Voldemort was a Slytherin."

 _"Who, is a very, very bad dead person."_ Ness said.

"Doesn't Penn's Woods Academy have a house system?" Hermione asked.

"No, why should we?" Paula replied with a small frown, "It sounds like a waste of time and needs to be abolished."

"When did you become so fancy?" Ness asked, "I've never heard you 'abolish' anything before."

"Ness, my father was on the council for Twoson, I've learned." Paula deadpanned as another explosion went off, "Now can we please pick up the pace before those cultists show up?"

"What cultists?" Ron asked.

"The ones who are ruining Paula's mood." Ness replied, before he mouthed don't ask and changed topic, "So, who are we meeting up with first while we look for safety?" he asked.

"The twins." Ron explained, "They should be this way." As Hermione nodded in agreement and raised her glowing wand a little higher to brighten the path, Ron did the same with his own wand after he muttered _"Lumios"_ under his breath. Prompting Harry to do the same only to freeze as he realized something.

"I lost my wand!" Harry gasped, furiously searched his coat jacket pockets as he looked around on the forest ground in disbelief.

"You sure?" Ness questioned, "Since Paula and I left ours at the campground. You might have just forgotten to pick it up in all the chaos."

Everyone gave him a horrified look which he quickly waved away, "Relax, I can't use that thing to save my life, I'm probably better off not having it."

"He has a point." Ginny said who didn't look as horrified, "He blew up the Transfiguration classroom when he tried to turn a mouse into a button."

"How?"

"I told you I'm not a-," Ness started to say when they reached a clearing full of red tents, probably belonging to Bulgaria fans. Outside a red tent were to girls who were arguing, their expressions frightened but their gestures angry as they tried to form a plan of action.

When they spotted the group one of the girls approached them, speaking rapid French before she spotted the looks of confusion on there face she gasped slightly and whispered something to her friend that sounded like "'Ogwarts." Before they headed south.

"Who were they?" Ginny questioned as they quickly moved on, "They were from Beaxbatons Academy of Magic, I read about them in _An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe."_ Hermione answered, "They're probably searching for a teacher."

"Hope they find their teacher okay." Ness said as he heard the explosions grow faint, "They were heading for the war zone."

"They'll be fine." Harry said, although he too sounded a bit worried, "For now let's focus on moving forward and finding help."

"Agreed." Paula said, ending all conversation as they walked down the faded path and reentered the forest, along the way they bumped into a frantic Winky who was trying to flee but couldn't as something supposedly held her back.

Ness and Paula felt warning shivers dance up and down their spines as Winky whimpered, "People up in the sky they were! Needs to get away! Winky needs to get away!"

Ness was tempted to ask why she hadn't already ran off for the hills but stopped himself when he remembered how badly Winky had reacted when he offered her a book. He should probably just avoid speaking to House Elves in general, especially since Harry's answer behind Winky's odd behavior was her trying to escape but also punishing herself for defying her Master's orders.

Earning heated scowls from the girls as Ness glanced over his shoulder to send Winky a pitying look before she disappeared into the darkness with a quiet wail. They kept walking, ignoring a bonfire of drunken men boast about their accomplishments (One of who Harry knew after a brief pause to make sure he wasn't seeing things.) as goblins happily counted their winnings from the Qudditch games on distance tree stumps ignoring the rowdy conversations and hoots of laughter.

As they made their way to the heart of the forest before the found anyone helpful, although Ness wasn't entirely sure how 'anyone' now known as Ludo Bagman, was going to be helpful after they saw him cursed and apperate toward the campgrounds. Something he should have been doing instead of partying and wasting time with his friends who were walking away to find new sources of entertainment.

Now after what felt like hours of walking, they were stuck playing the waiting game as they watched the skies light up with magical flares and auras from powerful spells, the winds lightly playing with the trees and their bedheads as they waited in silence.

It wasn't too long before Hermione broke that silence with a question of, "Did… anyone else see that flash of blue light as we ran into the forest?"

"Yea… Wonder what that was." Ron mused as he nudged a rock with his shoe, "Hopefully it was something to save those Muggles." Harry said, warily glancing into the darkness.

"I think it was." Ginny said, stealing a glance at Ness and Paula who were sitting underneath an oak tree, their eyes scanning the darkness for any potential monsters while the others rested.

"You think so?" Hermione questioned, perking up a little at that brief glimpse of hope.

"Yea, I saw it too." Ness said, pretending to squint in recollection, "They were falling after that weird fire started then they stopped and vanished."

"I think a powerful wizard was nearby then," Harry said, secretly yet not so secretly sending Ness a look which Ginny and Paula caught as well, but pretended not to notice for Harry's sake.

"Lucky them." Ness said, "I just hope that said powerful wizard is helping the Ministry-," he froze as he heard a faint rustle, causing everyone to stand up with weapons out.

"It came from over there." Paula whispered as Hermione and Ron dimmed their wands. "Wait… it sounds like someone's casting something." Harry whispered as they quickly but quietly approached the source of the noise.

 ** _"Morsmordre."_** Someone commanded, casting a spell somewhere.

"What was that?" Harry questioned as a green fog rose up from the tree tops, forming a skull with a snake going through its mouth, "What a horrible image to display." Paula noted with a small frown, the she yelped as Ginny grabbed her arm whispering, "We need to leave."

"What? Why? It's just a random tattoo in the sky." Ness pointed out, frowning slightly when he noticed how pale Ron and Ginny looked, "That's You-know-who's mark!" Ron hissed, grabbing Harry's arm and dragging him away as he spat out, "Voldemort's mark!"

"Wait, I thought he was dead!" Ness exclaimed as he allowed himself to be lead away from the glowing green skull.

"Apparently his followers don't think so." Hermione pointed out as they darted between trees, trying to put as much distance between them and the skull before anyone accused them of casting the spell.

Their plan didn't work as Ness sensed a trickle of danger run up his spine one much more urgent than before and yelled, "Get down!" just as Harry pulled his arm free from Ron's grasp and yelled, "Duck!" as he dove for the ground.

Paula yelped as a combined yell of, _"Stupify!"_ rang through the quiet woods and twenty red orbs of light flew overhead, slamming into trees before the fizzled out, "Oh, NOW the Ministry does something!" Hermione gasped as they sat up and peered into the darkness behind them to see a large group of wizards approaching them.

Their wands posed and ready to fire another volley when someone yelled, "Hold it! Those are my kids! Cease fire! Cease fire!" and Mr. Weasly pushed his way to the front of the group, breathing hard as he swiftly looked them over to check for any injuries before he sighed in slight relief and asked, "Is everyone okay?"

"Besides the heart attack, you gave us? Peachy." Ness joked as everyone else mutely nodded yes, a little surprised by the Ministry's actions.

"Out of the way, Arthur." A cold curt voice instructed as Mr. Crouch from earlier appeared beside him, his eyes cold and his face taunt with rage, "Who did it?" he ordered.

"Did what sir?" Hermione questioned.

"Don't play dumb with me." Mr. Crouch retorted, "Who. Summoned. The. Mark."

"We. Don't. Know." Ness replied, feeling it was only fair to return the man's anger. Even if Paula and Ginny pinched his arms and shot him dirty glares for his actions.

"We didn't do anything." Harry quietly protested, "We were just getting away from Lord Vold—You know who's mark."

"We wouldn't even know _how_ to summon it." Hermione pointed out, earning a couple murmurs of, "She has a point…" from the other witches and wizards.

"Alright, then." Mr. Crouch said, sounding angrier and angrier as he kept talking, "Where did the mark come from?"

"Over their sir." Paula said, calming pointing to the tree, "We were resting in the clearing when we heard a noise, and when we went over to check it out we heard someone casting a spell."

"And then we ran." Ginny added.

"You all seem to know a lot about this." Mr. Crouch noted, his eyes narrowing.

"Because we were all there when magical fog tattoo showed up." Ness reminded him, "We're eye witnesses."

"They probably Disapperated by now." A wizard wearing a thick trench coat noted.

"Not unless one of our spells hit them." Someone else prompted, "Come on! We shot through the trees! We may have a chance!"

"Don't do anything foolish Amos." A witch wearing a woolen dress coat sighed, but no one stopped him as he rushed over to the tree the spell had been cast.

Instead a couple witches edged forward to inspect the group of slightly dirty teenagers and possible offer healing magic while Crouch shot them death glares which quickly vanished when Amos yelled, "Blimey! We did get someone!" causing the Ministry wizards and the students to rush over and see who exactly performed the spell.

"Who is it?" Crouch demanded as he pushed forward only to abruptly stopped as Amos picked up a terrified and stunned Winky, her eyes frantically looking around for searching as they gawked at the house elf in surprise.

"Winky? How did you get here?" Ness asked as Mr. Weasly plucked a wand from her hand, frowning slightly as he studied it. "Was she the only one there?" a witch questioned as Crouch moved to investigate the woods his complexion pale as Amos said, "Only one. Probably was the same person who performed the spell."

"Impossible! She doesn't have a wand!" Crouch protested the rage simmering into shock and cold disbelief.

"Actually…" Amos gestured at the wand in Mr. Weasly's hand using Lumos to properly show it off in the darkness.

"Probably stole it off of someone during the chaos." A wizard theorized as a witch clicked her tongue and muttered, "Can't be her, she wouldn't break clause three of the Code of Wand use. There must have been a wizard around here who dropped it."

"We did hear a person speaking, not an house elf. So that could have happened" Ness added, his friends nodding in agreement as Mr. Weasly carefully took to the wand and studied it before he looked at Crouch, waiting for his choice."

Crouch stiffened and pulled out his own wand muttering, "Might as well get some answers before we run around like headless chicken," and tapped Winky, muttering a spell under his breath as she fidgeted and flexed her fingers.

Once she was sure that she was free she jumped out of Amos's arms in a flustered manner and squeaked, "It wasn't Winky sir! I didn't do it!"

"Then why were you found with a wand in your hand?" Amos questioned his voice rising as Winky panicked, "And why were you over here in the first place?"

"Winky was running and—and!" the house elf trailed off and gave them pleading looks, begging to be helped as her case fell flat, "Where did you get the wand?" Amos demanded waving the wand in the air for extra emphasis, "Did you steal it?"

"N-no! Winky doesn't steal!" Winky protested, "Winky's a good house elf! Winky doesn't break the rules and-,"

"Hold on, that's my wand!" Harry realized, causing every adult and house elf to look at him in surprise, "I lost it in the chaos! Winky must have found it somehow."

"Well, that answers one question." A witch said as Mr. Weasly frowned slightly, "Harry, how long had your wand been missing?"

"No clue, I just realized it was gone a couple moments ago." Harry admitted earning a couple frowns as Winky pleaded, "Winky didn't steal the wand! And Winky didn't cast the spell! Winky's a good house elf! A good one sir!"

"Well, there's one straightforward way to answer that question." Amos said, pointing his wand tip at Harry's he said, _"Prior Incantato!"_ summoning another green tattoo skull for a brief moment before he canceled it saying, _"Deletrius."_ And looked at Winky who was quivering like a leaf.

"Well elf?" Amos asked, "What do you have to say for yourself?" as Mr. Weasly glanced at Crouch who had gone from over the top angry, to livid to stone cold in a couple short moments, "Amos… Think about what you're saying, how could she possibly learn a spell like that?"

 _"Her jerk of a master could have showed her."_ Ness mentally grumbled, earning a sharp, _"Shush! Before he accuses us again!"_ from Paula, although she looked sick to her stomach.

Amos opened his mouth when Crouch cut him off, boiling rage in his words as he evenly said, "Are you suggesting that I routinely teach my servants the Dark Mark, Diggery?"

 _"Logically, it makes sense."_ Ness thought as Amos paled slightly and shook his head no, "Of course not! I'm just trying to get some answers before the Daily Prophet twists the story!"

"Really? Since it sounds like you're accusing my servant, thereby accusing me of working with the Dark Lord."

"Now Crouch, we have to investigate every lead." The witch wearing the dress coat soothed, "And Winky was right on top of the crime scene." Crouch shot her a cold look as Mr. Weasly nodded in agreement, "Besides, the children said they heard a _human_ voice casting the spell, not an elf's." he reminded them as he turned to Winky with a gentle smile, "Winky, how exactly did you find the wand?"

"I was running sir, trying to find Mr. Crouch when I tripped I did, when I got up to run again I heard a voice and found the wand in my hand' then a bunch of people came yelling and Winky hid sir." Winky exclaimed, looking panicked.

"Did you see anyone?"

"Not a soul." Winky whimpered, "Winky just heard them, a female's voice."

"A girl?" Mr. Weasly turned to the girls who quickly huffed in indignation, "We didn't do it." Paula stressed, "We were running away, besides! I left my wand at the tent."

"Same, I've been using a tree branch to defend myself with." Ginny said, gesturing toward the broken branch beside her, "Defend yourself from what?" Mr. Weasly asked with a worried frown.

"Cult-," Paula began to say when Ness cut her off, "Freaks in masks." And shot her a pointed look.

"You were attacked?" Amos exclaimed,

"Just us three." Ness explained, gesturing toward Paula and Ginny, "We were a bit slow in getting away and some wizards spotted us."

"Good lord! Are you three alright?" a witch wearing a nightcap asked.

"Fine, just a couple cuts and bruises." Ness said with a small shrug as Mr. Weasly glanced at Crouch, "Perhaps we should continue this conversation later, once everyone is accounted for."

Crouch frowned and opened his mouth to protest when Bagman appeared, looking flustered and out of breath, "I'm here! Where's the problem!" the older man wheezed looking around in an almost drunken panic as his comrades shot him angry looks of disbelief at how late he was.

"Permission to head to the tents?" Ness asked.

Crouch stiffly said "Granted." After a long moment of silence and turned to a witch wearing a maroon red dress, "Elizabeth, escort them back to the others."

"Yes sir," Elizabeth said nodding her head as she began to usher them back to the main section of the campgrounds. she seemed to be a mother since she had no problem treating them like baby ducklings and offering them words of comfort as the gravity of the situation weighed on their minds.

Lord Voldemort's sign had shown up at a worldwide public event, a clear message that could signal many things, like his return or a poser making his name be heard loud and clear.

"Here you go." Elizabeth said, guiding them to hastily made med tent and offering them warm cups of butterbeer. Something Paula wrinkled her nose at as she took a careful step out of her steaming mug and studied the injured wizards and witches laying on cots.

Ness didn't even blink as Paula quietly murmured, "What is wrong with those cultists…" and merely gave her hand a light squeeze, _"It's okay, no one's too badly hurt."_

 _"For now."_ Paula grimly reminded him, _"No one was supposed to be hurt by the Happy-Happy Cultists, remember?"_

 _"This time it's different."_ Ness assured her, _"This time, we have the upper hand since we know what our powers do and don't do."_

Paula slowly nodded in agreement then flushed a bright red as Ron looked up from his mug and asked, "Are you two dating?" earning twin looks of slight anger as they tried to avoid looking at each other and glared at their friends who softly laughed at their reaction.

* * *

 **One of these days... I will have an updating schedule. Hopefully before Summer starts up. T_T;  
**


	13. Chapter 13: Welcome Back

The attack at the Qudditch World Cup became a bold statement in every newspaper. Even the muggle newspaper which had half written theories behind the terrorist fire attack that had happened that day.

It was a bit unnerving to see the bold statements and headlines for the next two days as the mail owls dropped off their packages and angry letters that were aimed at Mr. Weasly for some unknown reason.

Paula, Ginny and Ness could only watch as they quietly enjoyed the last day before school (And before Paula headed back to America.) with theories and hushed whispers as they glanced around, making sure that no one was listening in. Thankfully, everyone was distracted to pay attention to the usually trio of friends as they prepared for school and work.

Even neat and school obsessed Hermione was distracted as she started reading up on Elf rights and working conditions, her latest hobby after Winky was fired by Crouch. Which according to Ron was a fate worse than death to be fired by your Master.

"I bet he did it. He summoned the dark mark" Paula announced as Ness dozed on an oak tree branch, enjoying the warm summer heat and cool breeze.

"What makes you say that?" Ginny questioned as she looked up from her wilted Four leaf clover.

"She was so nervous when Mr. Diggery confronted her," Paula reminded her, "And she kept looking at Crouch for some reason."

"Plus, we saw here mere minutes before the spell went off." Ness recalled, "There's no way she could have possibly backtracked around to use Harry's wand."

"Unless Crouch gave her an order to do it," Paula said, "She's quite obedient to obey her higher ups."

"True…" Ginny murmured, "But why would Crouch make her do it? He isn't involved with the Dark Lord."

"Is he?" Ness argued, sitting up slightly from his perch, "After all, it seems like a lot of people were cheering for Lord Voldemort as they paraded through camp. He probably was a minor supporter when Voldemort was a big deal."

"Like Malfoy's dad." Ginny recalled with a frown, "He was a HUGE supporter back then, but Dad can never get anything on him."

Paula shuddered and wrinkled her dress, "Lovely, now I'm going to have to look over my shoulder for possible cultist members."

"We aren't cultists-," Ginny gently argued when Paula cut her off with an angry snap, "I saw those monsters did to those muggles, and how Winky was treated! She's a living creature same as we are! She shouldn't be treated as a slave!"

"Says the housewife in training." Ness teased, then he yelped as Paula attempted to use Freeze Alpha on him, "Shut it Mr. Hero." She huffed before she smoothed and dress and studied the random patches of flowers among the thick weeds.

"Fine, fine," Ness relented, "But what do we do now? Every news reporter is out searching for the spell that saved those Muggles lives."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Paula said, "After all, we're a bunch of kids. Everyone believes that the spell was casted by a crazy powerful vigilante."

"So, you didn't save the muggles?" Ginny questioned, looking a little disappointed.

"I merely set everyone on fire." Paula said with a small smile.

"Yea, I saved the muggles." Ness said, "Not exactly sure how since I just wanted them to get to safety after I stopped them in the air."

"Didn't you use teleport?" Paula asked,

"Yea, but I had no idea where they live. I just pictured someplace that offered them safety." Ness sheepishly admitted, "Not the best idea, but it was better then nothing."

"Agreed." Ginny said, "Hopefully the Ministry caught most of those masks wearing freaks by this point."

"Hopefully." Paula agreed as they heard a faint yell, no doubt signaling them for their last homecooked meal before they all headed to school. Ness was tempted to race the girls back to the Burrow but Ginny's questioned stopped him.

"Paula, are all your PSI attacks elemental?"

"Yes and no," Paula said with a small shrug as they made their way back, "My main attacks are elemental, but I can buff and debuff people as well as heal."

"She's basically the mage in our group." Ness deadpanned, "Poo's all around with offensive and defense PSI as well as physical attacks, Jeff has his rockets and I just have one offensive PSI attack."

"One? What about fire?"

"I'm still trying to learn that." Ness admitted, "So for the time being I only have one." Then he tilted his head, "Why do you ask?"

"Just theorizing." Ginny mused as she pushed the backdoor open and headed into the dining room. Ness and Paula exchanged a baffled look but didn't question her, instead they finished the day off by suffering through Ms. Weasly's cooking and headed for bed for the busy morning ahead of them.

And busy it was, from Mr. Weasly having to drop Paula off to Mrs. Weasly barking orders as everyone scrambled to grab suitcases, luggage's, pet birds and last minute supplies before they piled into company cars and headed for King's station where they were rushed onto the train with hurried goodbyes and promises that they would meet again.

Ness ignored this part and the twinkling smiles as he scrambled onto the train with Ginny and grabbed an empty compartment car, "Hopefully, school will be normal this year." Ness groaned as Ginny studied the newspaper which was still talking about the World Cup.

Ginny gave a halfhearted hum of agreement as she slowly turned the page, flinching slightly as the train lurched to life and pulled away from the station.

Ness sighed and looked around, studying the velvet red carpet and the benches before he glanced out the window to watch the rain and acres of land fly by. Wondering what Luna and Selvis's day clothes looked like, would it be like Ginny? Who was wearing a simple brown dress with mended leggings or something more casual? Like his tee shirt and shorts.

Or, maybe Luna would show up wearing looking like a hippie with a love for dainty clothing while representing the entire house system, since she wore a butterfly covered lavender dress, a snake green jacket with actual snake scales dotting the fabric, honey yellow leggings with black stripes, a fire red bow in her pale blonde hair and plain brown sandals.

"Hello!" Luna greet as she sat beside Ginny and adjusted her tote bag, which was covered in pins from all over the world, "How was your summer?"

"Would have better if we weren't attacked by cultists and magic food." Ness answered while Ginny groaned, "Awful, a bunch of You know who's followers showed up and ruined the after game party."

"There was no party." Ness reminded her, "Just people being loud and disturbing the peace."

"After party." Ginny argued as a voice drawled, "It's a miracle that your father and his friends still have a job after that mess." And Selvis slid into the train compartment and sat beside Ness, who was thankfully less colorful than Luna as he wore cold colors and a scarlet vest praising Bulgeria.

"Oh, shut up." Ginny grumbled, "The only good thing about this mess is that your dumb team got crushed in the dust."

Selvis flushed an angry red and huffed, "Well for that crude remark Granger, I won't tell you any of my big scandals!"

"Scandals?" Ness questioned then he smirked and teased, "Did someone steal the famous Rug of Aladdin and make counterfeits?"

"Har-har." Selvis dryly retorted as he pulled out his notebook and flipped to a page, "But no, there about Barty Crouch."

"Oh yea… He fired his house elf for some reason." Luna mused frowning slightly, "Poor thing, it sounds like she was there at the wrong time at the wrong place."

"I dunno…" Ness admitted, "We saw her moments before the mark went off in the air running away from the clearing we were hiding at only for her to reappear."

"You were there?!" Selvis asked in disbelief.

"Yea, Ginny invited Paula and me to see the game."

"Oh, of _course_ your girlfriend gets to go." Selvis sulked ignoring Ness's protest of, "We're just friends!" as Ginny retorted, "I would have invited you but you were acting all high and mighty."

"So… What exactly happened?" Luna asked, "All the paper published was that an attack happened and that someone summoned the Dark Mark."

"They didn't mention the muggles being recused by a mysterious blue light?" Ness questioned,

"Vaugaly, but everyone assumes it was a powerful wizard-," Selvis started when he froze and looked at Ness in realization, "Explanation. Now." Selvis ordered. Prompting Ness and Ginny to explain what happened and their theories on Barty Crouch.

"Sounds about right." Selvis said, a coy smile on his face, "The Crouch family or rather, the remains are a mess. Wouldn't surprise me if Crouch was indeed the one who summoned the mark."

"Was he a double agent?" Luna asked, her eyes growing wide.

"No clue," Selvis admitted, "But I do know that he had a son, who was a big fan of You-Know-Who and followed him around like a lapdog, and that his wife mysteriously died after his son was executed."

"He was executed!?" Ness exclaimed, feeling his breakfast perform a loop-de-loop in his stomach as Selvis somberly said, "By his own father no less. Gave the order for the Dementor's Kiss without a second thought."

"That heartless monster!" Ginny growled while Luna nodded in agreement, her dreamy smile slipping a little as she murmured, "I wonder why?"

"He's old money Luna." Selvis said with an exaggerated sigh, "With a huge scandal, getting him publicly executed was the only redeeming thing he could do to save his reputation."

"Well that explains why he was so eager to blame us." Ness grumbled, "If he had his way he probably would have thrown us in jail and seemed like a hero while the Boy who lived turned into a villainous crook."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he himself wasn't a Death Eater, according to Mum, people did crazy things to prove their worth to You-Know-Who." Selvis said.

"Didn't one wizard blow up his entire muggle neighborhood before he joined You-Know-Who?" Ginny questioned.

"Wouldn't surprise me." Selvis said, "As I said, Death Eaters were crazy."

"Speaking of blown up neighborhoods." Luna said, plucking the newspaper from Ginny's hands, "Mad Eye Moody was heard setting off his traps late last night."

"So that's why Dad was in a rush." Ginny realized then she frowned, "Oh dear, I hope no one got hurt."

"Whose Mad Eye Moody? And why does he have traps?" Ness asked as Selvis stole the newspaper from Luna to read for himself.

"Mad Eye Moody was a famous Death Eater Hunter." Ginny explained, "The best of the best, despite the many injuries he gained until his retirement-,"

"Forced." Selvis reminded her, "The Ministry forced him to retire."

"Right, he was a bit… Paranoid after a bit, mistaking Muggles for Death Eaters and blasting them without a second thought before they let him go." Ginny said.

"He was loco." Luna happily offered before she turned to Selvis, "Although, I'm surprised it took him this long to get into the news. He used to be reeeaaallly active back in the day, well, at least according to Dad."

"Didn't he blow up his trash cans or something?" Ness said, vaguely remembering Mr. Weasly grumble something about trash bins as he took Paula home.

"Trash what?" Selvis questioned.

"He means trash bins." Ginny explained, "They say trash cans in America."

"Americans are lame." Selvis declared, "Honestly! Who says trash cans?"

"I do." Ness said with a small shrug, "And I call rubbish garage."

"You're a piece of rubbish." Selvis grumbled as Ness happily retorted, "Nah! I'm a piece of trash!"

"Isn't that what he said?" Luna questioned as Selvis rolled up the newspaper and waved it in Ness's face, "I have a weapon Earthbound!" he threatened, "And I'm not afraid to use it!"

"I do to!"

Selvis frowned and slightly lowered the newspaper, "You do?"

"Hypnosis Alph-," Ness started when Selvis yelped and dove for the other end of the booth yelling, "Don't do that you freak!"

"But it's funny to see your reaction!"

"No, it bloody isn't!"

"It is to me."

Selvis huffed in protested and folded his arms but didn't add onto to his argument.

Allowing Ginny to change the topic, talking about the actual events of the World Cup and how Paula and Ness were ready to burn her clover pin, earning a cry of "It was a menace!" from Ness as Selvis doubled over in laughter yelling, "Karma! That's what you get freak!"

while Luna asked in a serious voice, "Did you check to make sure it wasn't a Poppy Clover? They're quiet the tricksters." Abruptly ending Selvis's laughing fit as he argued, "Poppy Clovers aren't real!" and started a debate on four leaf and three leafed clovers.

Their fun was quickly ruined as they neared Hogwarts and had to get dress, prompting Selvis to go hang out with his much 'cooler' friends while Luna wandered off to search the train for Motor-mice with Ginny in tow.

Leaving Ness to change and glance at his year three books before he got bored and took a nap until they reached the station.

"I was having such a good dream." Ness complained as he followed Ginny and Luna off the platform and grabbed a carriage with a Gryffindor boy and a Hufflepuff girl who happily ignored him after studying Ness's unusual eyes.

"I wonder what's going to happen this year." Luna mused, amiably watching the trees slowly pass by, "Maybe we'll have to face a dragon."

"I hope not." Ness groaned, "Their annoying to fight against."

"Especially with their armored hides and fire." Ginny said with a small shudder, "I read that one dragon could spit small balls of fire that would explode on contact."

Ness cringed then joked, "He probably has an explosive personality."

"Har-har." Ginny and Luna said giving him half amused yet annoyed looks as Ness shrugged and said, "I'm right." As they approached the castle.

"I wonder what opening speech Dumbledore has this year." Ginny wondered.

"Or the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Ness reminded her, "Although he'll never be as cool as Lupin."

"I wonder how Professor Kale is." Luna mused as they entered the Great Hall and separated to their houses, "…I completely forgot about Professor Kale." Ness admitted as he spotted said teacher wearing night blue robes and chatting to Professor Trelawney who was glowing with excitement about something while everyone sat down and waited for the house selection process (Which Ginny said was called the Sorting) to begin.

His second year at Hogwarts, and he was probably never going to get used to the floating lanterns, the singing hat—why did the hat sing?

Oh well, the magical plates (And thankfully handmade food that appeared on said plates) the ghosts appearing and disappearing as they watched their respected house gain new members or the magical celling that revealed a calm night sky despite the outside weather being gloomy and dark as it rained cats and dogs. Something Ness had somehow not noticed as he clumsily followed Ginny and Luna to their carriage.

Ness happily clapped along as he studied the four houses, easily picking Selvis out as he beamed happy grins at his new Slytherin members and Luna as she had her silverware clap for her, unfazed as her fellow Ravenclaw shoot her annoyed and possible worried looks, probably wondering if her sanity was in tack.

After the sorting was done Dumbledore stood up and spread his arms prepared to announce his speech which was surely going to make dinner be even later by the time he finished-, "Tuck in."

Ness blinked and looked at Ginny who had a small smile on her face, "Wait, is that it?" Ness asked as the plates filled with food.

"Apparently." Ginny said with a small shrug as she began to pile mash potato and Shepard's pie onto her golden plate, "He's ah… special."

"You were going to say crazy-," Ness said when Ginny sent him a look, prompting him to grab his fork and grab some food. He was just about to dig into his steak when he heard Hermione exclaimed, "House elves work here?!" in horror.

"Hmm?" Ness looked up and glanced at Hermione who was looking down at her food in mixed horror and disgust then at the ghost—Nearly Headless Nick who nodded, "Why of course, we have the largest amount of house elf in all of Great Britain." He explained, "They tend the castle, cook the food, restock the potion and medical supplies you know, things like that."

"I didn't know we had house elves." Ginny said, following his gaze as Hermione stiffened and pressed, "But they do get _paid._ Right? And have holiday leave? Pensions? Sick leave and raises?" her answer was a fit of laughter from the ghost as he nearly lost his head and floated off.

"Hopefully their happy working here…" Ness murmured as he warily glanced down at his plate.

"Must be if they have over a hundred house elves." Ginny offered as she watched Hermione put her fork down and fold her arms, "I mean, Dumbledore probably treats them right."

"Probably." Ness echoed as he forced himself to swallow a mouthful of delicious yet guilt ridden mashed potatoes, telling himself that he should appreciate their hard work and that it would be offensive if he didn't enjoy dinner.

"You okay? You look… pale." Ginny asked.

"Oh nothing, just remembering some old Muggle history." Ness dryly said as he took a sip of his water. Ginny brightened and eagerly asked, "What kind of Muggle history?"

"The Civil War." Ness answered, knowing full well that Ginny probably didn't have a clue as to what he meant. She didn't. "The what war?"

"American war, happened almost right after WW1 if I remember correctly." Ness explained, "It was a fight between the north and the south over slavery which nearly caused the South to segregate."

"Okay…" Ginny slowly said before she asked, "What's WW1?"

"World War 1," Ness started to explain before he frowned, "Hold on, you don't know World War 1? Pretty sure that Great Brittan was one of our allies during the war."

"I remember the Battle of Warlocks," Ginny recalled, "Where general Fredrick, a Gryffindor battled against the evil warlock of some continent."

"…I'm seriously starting to question this school's history lessons." Ness said after giving Ginny a long look of disbelief.

"Oh! I think we were fighting China!" Ginny recalled, ignoring the fact that Ness had resumed eating his dinner. Once the plates were cleaned and had disappeared into the kitchen Dumbledore stood up for supposedly his second speech, the announcements and changes around the year.

"So!" Dumbledore said, giving everyone a smile, "Now that you are feed and have re-hydrated yourselves-," Ness heard a loud hmph from Hermione about that statement, "—I must once again request for you attention for a couple announcements. Mostly concerning Mr. Flich's new and improved list of items that are banned within the halls of Hogwarts, which are, Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs, there are 400 more items which are also banned but I feel that you all get the gist of it."

A couple students, mainly the tricksters snickered at that, "But, if any of you do wish to see the full list, it is in Flich's office. And, as always, The Forbidden Forest is indeed, still forbidden as well as the village of Hogsmeade to anyone below year three."

"I can't wait to taste the chocoballs and pop rock candies." Ginny gushed, "I heard it tastes amazing!"

"It does." Ness whispered not that it mattered since Dumbledore's next words erupted a huge cry out outrage from almost the entire student body as he said, "I regret to inform you that Qudditch will not take place this year." Dumbledore had to wait a bit before he pressed on without being interrupted, "But, I can cheerfully tell you that we have something much more exciting planned this year as we are going to host-,"

The loud bang of a door opening silenced Dumbledore as everyone looked at the Great Hall entrance, gawking as a flash of lightning illuminated a man with a gnarled and scarred face, his nose missing a huge chunk out of it as his mouth was pulled into a thin line, almost as thin as the stitches across his face. But it was his eyes that sent collected shivers down everyone's spines.

They reminded Ness of one of those horrible mangled dolls that had been forced to get two different eyes to prevent being thrown out with the trash, one was black and beady, like a marble and the other was a large electric blue eye that wouldn't stop moving around in its socket. Performing 360 spins as it searched for something.

"No way…" Ginny breathed, "Mad Eye Moody's our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

"I don't like him." Ness whispered, the aura of a predator sending shivers up spine as his mind tried to figure out if it was time to defend himself or to stay calm, "I don't like him at all…"

"He won't hurt us." Ginny said, sending him a soothing smile as Mad Eye Moody limped toward Dumbledore, extending a scarred hand toward the Headmaster who happily shook it, like they were old friends before he muttered something, paused and nodded his head at Mad Eye Moody's reply, gesturing toward the empty chair on his left before he faced forward.

"May I introduce, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Professor Moody." Dumbledore announced with a bright smile as 'Professor' Moody sat down, lowered his equally gnarled cane and examined a plate of sausages.

No one clapped. They just stared at Dumbledore, then their new 'Professor' in awe and shock. Even the teachers looked stunned exchanging nervous looks before they looked at Dumbledore, silently saying 'Why is he here?'.

"Now I was I was saying," Dumbledore said, breaking the stunned silence with ease as everyone resumed focusing on him, and only him as he flashed them a proud smile, "Hogwarts have been selected to host a very important tournament, the Triwizard Tournament to be exact."

"You're Joking!" Fred Weasly yelled, shattering the uneasy tension and filling the Great Hall with laughter as Ness looked around, confused and found that almost everyone under year 4 was also lost as the older members shared looks of, "Can you believe our headmaster?" as they laughed.

But their headmaster wasn't joking, instead his smile just grew wider, "No Mr. Weasly, I am not joking." Dumbledore said over the laughter, "Although I did hear an interesting joke about a Leprechaun entering a bar and-,"

Professor McGonagall coughed and sent him a look, silencing the joke, "Ah, very well." Dumbledore said, practically sighing in disappointment, "Now then, this will be very brief explanation since it is growing late, but the Triward tournament was established seven hundred years to create goodwill between the top European schools of magic, Hogwarts of course, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was randomly selected to represent his or her school to compete in magical competitions, normally each school would host one every five years but we had to discontinue it because of the high death toll-,"

"I get the sinking feeling that I'm not going to have a very normal school year." Ness groaned as he pictured Peter Petigrew somehow using this opportunity to get Harry killed to avenge his Master, "But, after several tries and attempts, our departments of International Magical Cooperation, Magical Games and Sports have decided that the time is ripe for another try."

"If Barty really is a Death Eater," Ginny whispered, "I bet he set this up."

"Agreed." Ness murmured.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang shall be arriving this October with their chosen candidates and the selection shall take place this Halloween with an impartial judge overseeing the final champions for the games to win the Triwizard cup, a thousand gallons and school pride!"

"Whooaaa." Ness exclaimed as everyone broke out in excited whispers, "Is that a lot of money?" Ness asked as Ginny struggled to breath properly managing a hoarse, "A lot of money." Before she found a rhythm.

"However, I must warn you that only wizards seventeen and above will be allowed to enter," another huge outrage as Dumbledore continued silencing most of the rage induced yells with a cool gaze, "This rule has been put in place to prevent less experience wizards from getting themselves killed, a rule we must abide to since the Ministry have only agreed to start the Triwizard tournaments if this rule was followed."

"Now, I ask of you, all of you to be polite and open minded when Beauxbatons and Durmstrang come they are not our enemies or rivals, merely new friends we have yet to meet! And I also ask of you all to give the selected champion your full support, there is no need to feel better that you weren't picked, we must simply press on and cheer our hero or heroine on as they compete." He studied the sea of students before he clapped his hands and said, "Now, off to bed, you have a long day of classes tomorrow and I want you all to be prepared."

"Oh god, I forgot about class." Ness groaned as he got up and followed the sea of Gryffindor's to their dorms, "I am going to knock out so many people…"

"And hopefully don't blow them up." Ginny reminded him, "I can still feel the burn marks from last year."

"It was an accident!"

"Which singed my pigtails."

Ness groaned and threw his hands up, "To any god that is up there, please yet this year be normal!"

And said god merely laughed at him as a loud boom of thunder caused him to trip and get stuck in a trick stair, "Gee, thanks for your encouraging words God," Ness grumbled as Ginny smothered a laugh and helped him up.

* * *

 **You know, I can't help but wonder just how much of the Muggle world the wizards actually know about. They don't seem to know (Or care enough to follow) Muggle sports since I know someone in book 2 had to explain the concept of Soccer to a Pure-blood wizard before the attacks started, and even Muggle clothing and fashion are a mystery to wizards. Which is really, really weird and disturbing since they just wear robes and hats over casual or formal clothing (Unless they have magically clothing that I've somehow missed over the years.) For a secret community that have to be wary of Muggles observing magic or stumbling upon magical items, they don't really seem to understand much more than the 'wipe their memories and book it back to the Ministry.' aspect.**

 **Oh well, thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14, Why am I his favorite?

Ness expected his first day of Hogwarts to be like this. Wake up, get breakfast with Ginny and wave hello to Luna, groan over the class schedule- which now had Divination and Magical Creature Care added to the list and the fact that he was going to have to use his wand-which he had just recently found after misplacing it for the entire summer—for most of the classes.

Then go through the school day with a smile as Selvis and his Slytherin house mates taunted him before ending the day with the members of Boundless to meet up and chat or theorize over something before bed.

It wasn't supposed to involve crazy teachers outright attacking a student for a rude (And undeserved comment that sparked a brief battle) or for Ness to become their new Defense Against the Dark Arts favorite.

Mad Eye Moody gave him the creeps, from his status of being a famous Death Eater hunter to his unsettling appearance, and the fact that his scowl could possible beat Snape's disgusted sneer when he worked with the Gryffindors in Potions class wasn't helping. After all, Snape didn't bother him it was just Mad Eye Moody.

Which is why Ness silently prayed that they didn't have they didn't have Defense Against the Dark Arts on the first time while he grabbed a sandwich and nervously studied Mad Eye Moody, who was nowhere to be seen oddly enough despite it being time for breakfast.

"He's probably eating in his office." Ginny explained when Ness asked her about their new teacher's disappearance, "He doesn't trust anyone not to poison him."

"After that entrance, he made last night? Don't blame him." Ness said as he noticed how at ease the teachers compared to last night, even Snape seemed relived despite the permanent scowl on his face.

"I wonder what class we have after lunch." Ginny mused, studying her class schedule with a curoise smile, "Hopefully not with Professor-," Ness started to say when Ginny's eyes lit up, "Oh! Our first second period class is Defense Against the Dark Arts!"

"…Thanks for nothing God." Ness grumbled as he checked his own schedule and suppressed a groan as he saw DADA boldly printed in first period along with Potions before the final period started.

"He isn't that bad." Ginny soothed, "He's just experienced."

"I'm experienced too, and you don't see me sending shivers down everyone's spines." Ness reminded her.

"I don't know, some kids jump when they see your eyes." Ginny said, "They're practically the color of the night sky."

"Really? I always thought they were midnight black."

"Either way, it's unnerving."

Ness grumbled something under his breath but didn't push it, instead he finished his breakfast and followed Ginny for class, dreading Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Moody would be waiting for them with his scowl and creepy blue eye. And, right after lunch he was, his blue eye slowly trailing after each student that entered before it locked onto someone else.

Ness sat down near the back of the class, not liking how the blue orb seemed to linger on him before focusing on Emily Parsnip, as if it _knew_ he wasn't a wizard.

Once everyone was inside and the bell rang, Moody gave a sharp rap of his cane, causing everyone to jump and be quiet, even though everyone had been silently studying their new teacher without glancing at their neighbors, a rare feat for any teacher since everyone was usually distracted unless called for.

"Now…." Moody said, his voice practically echoing around the room despite how low and gravely his voice was, "I understand that you lots went over basic defense in Year One, and somewhat dangerous monsters in Year Two, but it's come to my attention that _none of you._ Know how to handle yourself in a proper battle."

He slowly turned around, his blue eye spinning in its socket to keep a close eye on the students as he wrote in slow, agonizing strokes on the chalk board, Battling 101.

"This morning, I had the wonderful opportunity to witness a pathetic attempt of an attack and an even worse attempt of defending one's self, courtesy of Potter and Malfoy." He slowly walked forward and coldly studied them all, "Do you know what happened?"

They all shook their heads no, "The attacker, waited for his opponent to TURN HIS BACK AROUND LIKE A COWARD." Moody practically roared, "And his opponent willingly LEFT HIMSELF OPEN FOR AN ATTACK!" he took a slight pause before he continued his gnarled features twitching slightly as he spoke, "Now, do you know the proper ways to handle yourself in a fight?"

No one raised a hand, at least not at first. Prompting Ness to mentally groan and spar his classmates any opportunity of making a fool of themselves in front of the war veteran.

"Never leave yourself unguarded, open to attack and be two steps ahead of your opponent." Ness guessed. Knowing that the first answer was correct, but the second one was a half n half since most of the time he was focusing on pounding the enemy with his bat while Paula ensured that everyone was healed and prepared to handle a powerful attack.

Would thinking ahead be a good step to keep yourself alive? Very, but that was in-between ensuring that everyone knew what everyone else was going to do and not getting in the way.

Like calling out healing, Ness could easily heal like Paula could, but if he didn't mentally call out, "I'm going to heal Poo!" the moment Paula noticed he was low on health then they would waste precious time on healing the same person.

Moody studied him for a long moment before a crooked grin formed, sending an army of wobbly ants down his back as Moody praised, "Correct Mr. Earthbound, five points to Gryffindor." then he turned to the class asking, "And do you know why those are two important things to remember when battling?"

Mike Warf timidly raised his hand and said, "Because if you don't keep an eye out you'll be hit a lot more than normal?"

"Yes, and?" Moody pressed.

"If you can guess what your opponent is going to do then you can counterattack." Bella Field answered.

"Excellent. Nice to see that not all Gryffindor's are clueless when it comes to fighting." Moody said with a nod, "Now get up, all of you, we're going to go through some simple drills."

And by 'simple' he meant nightmare mode of hard. He had the students march out to an empty Great Hall and stand in two lines which faced each other, wands out and nervous frowns on their faces as they looked to their teacher for instructions.

Then, it became utter chaos as Moody gave them all colored scarfs to wrap around their arms and simply said, "Basically, this is capture the flag, stun your classmates and steal the scarfs, and whoever has the most scarfs gets an A on the next essay."

Gasps rippled throughout the hall as the students gawked at him in disbelief, then Ginny raised her hand, "Sir, is there anything else to know?"

"Other than keep your eyes peeled for attacks coming from all direction? Nope, go at it!" then he raised his wand and uttered a spell which caused a firework to explode, startling the students to scramble into different corners of the room as Moody yelled, "Begin capturing the flags!"

 _"He's insane!"_ was all Ness could think as explosions of spells happened around them, forcing him to duck and slid under attacks as he struggled to figure out how he could stun students and steal their scarves without using PSI.

Maybe that theory of magic being more than just mental thought could come in handy, although, now that he thought about it PSI and magic shared a lot more in common as he remembered how panicked he was and how he willed that Muggle family to head home during that attack at the Qudditch World Cup.

"Why is this so hard to figure out?" Ness groaned as he jumped back and tried not to close his eyes as his voice joined the yells of spells being cast, _"Stupidfy!"_ at Denis Poppet, picturing the boy being temporally frozen. The 'spell' which was really just a yellow zigzag instead of a ball of light missed Denis by inches before making an abrupt turn and slamming into him. Prompting Ness to mentally groan, _"So much for my awesome pitching skills."_

Denis yelled and looked around the best he could as he was frozen mid leap back as he tried to fend off Rose and Lila Ribbons, "Mine," Ness simply said as he pointed his wand at the sisters who tried to duck under the zigzag only to be slammed in the back.

"How… did… you…?" Rose asked between gritted teeth as he grabbed their scarfs and looked around, staying low to the ground as spells flew overhead, they had lessened slightly as students were slowly stunned but not enough for Ness to catch his breath as he whispered, "I honestly have no clue. I think I just got lucky since I fail at magic."

"Luckkyyyy…" Lila groaned, knowing first hand that Ness was indeed a terrible wizard when it came to using spells and charms.

"Maybe I should find somewhere to hide-," Ness started to say as he ducked and pivoted around stray shots making his way toward the back of the classroom, when he felt something slam into his side his legs snapping together.

"Huh… That actually worked," Henry Erand said, pushing up from the ground and losing his 'stunned' status to steal his collected scarves, "Smart plan, only, I can counterattack." Ness said, Henry frowned, then yelped as Ness 'stupefied' him and sat up, glancing down at his legs.

"Is anyone else acting stunned?" Ness asked as he rolled onto his back and sprang forward, landing on his feet as he looked at Henry, "Don't… think… so…" Henry grunted, "I'm…the…only…one…. who…fails…at…active…combat."

"It was still a good plan." Ness offered, shooting him a grin before he hopped away, trying to find a quiet spot to use Heal Omega before anyone else got him. Thankfully, by the time he found an empty corner, the bell rang ending Defense Against the Dark Arts and the practical death match.

"Time's up!" Moody yelled, walking around and freeing the unlucky victims, "Come up here and count your flags before Potion class." They dutifully obeyed and watched as Mason George was crowed champion.

The class gave feeble cheers of, "Good for you mate." And "Good game." As their bodies burned from running around and being stunned, even Ness felt tired, despite being physically more active than the other wizards!

Why the heck was Defense Against the Dark Arts the first class?! It didn't make any sense! Then again, having a somewhat mentally troubled retired Death Eater hunter for a teacher didn't make any sense either, why on earth did Dumbledore hire—

"Now as wonderful as you all did out there." Mad Eye Moody started, his voice laced with slight disgust and sarcasm as Ness blinked in surprise at his teacher's tone, "I noticed one common trend among all of you."

They jumped as he stamped his cane on the ground, "None of you were actively dodging!"

 _"Hey! I dodged!"_ Ness mentally protested.

"Although, I did notice _one_ student who had his head on his shoulders." Ness flinched as both of Mad Eye Moody's eyes locked onto him, lingering for too long as the bell rang, forcing Moody to dismiss them, "Off to class you lot, next class we'll be working on shields spells."

"I wonder who that one student was." Ginny mused as they hurried to the dungeons for Snape's class.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the one kid whose actually been in fights." Ness said, rolling his eyes slightly as Ginny managed a smart, "Oh yea…" as they joined the crowd of Slytherin third years, giving them all a look of amusement at how tired everyone looked.

 _"Won't be laughing when Moody gets through with you."_ Ness thought as he took his usual seat at the back and unpacked his things, hoping that they wouldn't need to use his wand for class. After all, this was the first day, Snape probably wouldn't set out anything too hard for them to do-,

"Today, we'll be making a Liquefier potion." Snape said with his usual sneer, "I wonder how many of you slacked on your summer studying."

Ness suppressed as groan as a vague memory of Liquefier, a potion that temporally turned solid objects into liquids and was very hard to make.

He was about to crown the first day of school the best day ever thanks to Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts when he went to Divination class and discovered that Professor Trawleny was their teacher.

At first, he was relived since she was on good terms with Professor Kale only to learn that she was obsessed with predicting outlandish things, like how Ness's fate was tightly wrapped around Harry's, and how poor Henry was going to have a terrible day when Mars rose to its highest apex.

Then there was the lesson, which had them studying tea leaves saying that they could predict the future if studied correctly.

All Ness found was a soggy leaf and an upset stomach from having to drink tea.

"I'm not crazy, right?" Ness asked as he glanced at his bench mate, Wes Mur who was poking and prodding his own leaf, "This _does_ look like a soggy tea leaf, right?"

"Yup, although, mine looks like a crescent moon." Wes glanced at his book and frowned, "Which means that I should stay indoors on the full moon and beware of werewolves."

"That prediction is a year late." Ness joked, earning a smile from Wes before they resumed making up predictions and waited for class to end so they could head to lunch then finish the day with Charms and History of Magic.

"I am soooo tired." Ness groaned as they headed for the Gryffindor Tower with the rest of their housemates, too tired to sneak away and head up toward their club house and too close to other people to properly avoid being seen.

"Hopefully Selvis and Luna will understand why we didn't show up." Ginny yawned, her eyes drooping with fatigue.

"And if not, we'll send them a letter." Ness said then he frowned and muttered, "That sounded so shallow."

"Why is sending a letter to friends shallow?" Ginny questioned as they climbed through the portrait hole and prepared to part ways, "Because! We should be able to _talk_ to them! Not send letters when there a couple feet away!" Ness protested.

"Still doesn't sound shallow." Ginny yawned as she headed up to the Girls room, with a mumbled, "Night." As the other students perked up and played a couple games of chess. Ness happily ignored them all and went to bed. Wondering if all his school days were going to be this tiring.

Lucky, as the week passed they weren't so tiring and Ness managed to fake magic with slight ease as he remembered his strategy, poke the object with his wand enough and picture it doing what the spell would do and it would work long enough for him to get a D-.

Unlucky he discovered that Magical Care for Creatures or whatever Hagrid's class was officially his worst subject since every creature was uneasy and wary around him.

Hissing death threats and curse words every time Ness tried to hold telepathic conversation with the creature of the week. He also discovered that he and Harry were Mad Eye Moody's favorite students since had he forced Harry to practice a supposedly 'forbidden' curse on his first class with the Fourth Years over and over again and that he kept having reasons for Ness to demonstrate something.

"He has it out for me!" Ness complained as he, Selvis, Ginny and Luna sat in a circle in their club-room, "He knows I'm not a wizard guys!"

"Impossible." Selvis scoffed, briefly looking up from his journal, "Mad Eye Moody's magical eye can do a lot of things, like find cloaking devices and see through things. It doesn't allow him to pinpoint liars or PSI users."

"Besides, he seems to be showering Harry with the same praise as well." Ginny reminded him, "Mad Eye Moody had him go through the Impervoius curse until he could easily break free."

"Great, so it's just to the two renowned heroes suffering." Ness groaned as Luna patted him on the back. "Well, maybe he'll lighten up once the Triwizard cup starts." She offered.

"I wonder what the trails will be." Ginny mused, "It'll have to be stuff on six and seventh year level, like Apperating!"

"Oh please." Selvis scoffed, "There probably going to have a mock battle to the death."

"Moody already did that." Ness said then he shuddered and added, "Twice." As he remembered how the second battle had been them dodging books and school supplies being throw by a group of rowdy imps Mad Eye Moody had found.

Selvis and Luna grimaced muttering, "Oh yea…" as they remembered their own versions of battle to the death.

"So, Triwizard cup aside, what do you think of our new teacher?" Ginny asked.

"Insane." Ness deadpanned while Luna hesitantly said, "A bit overboard with paranoia if you ask me."

Earning a scoff from Selvis who said, "Of course he is! He _murdered_ You know who's followers and he's a descent of two well-known auroras! I'm actually _surprised_ that no one tried to murder him yet."

"Whoa… No wonder he's so paranoid." Ness exclaimed, "I thought it was just a case of PSTD from having to see some horrific things."

"No, once he attacked a birthday present because he thought it was a Basilisk egg." Ginny recalled, "It wasn't, but that was enough to be wary of what they sent Moody in case he sent it back with hexes."

Selvis shuddered and grumbled, "Leave it to bloody Dumbledore to hire a veteran nut-job who could possibly murder a student in 'self-defense.'"

"Well, he's not that bad. He just sends shivers down my spine." Ness offered, "Besides, with that last attack it'll be good to have some actual dueling practice in case we're jumped again."

"Yea, if _we're_ jumped." Selvis sourly said, "You can just blast them with PSI and be done with it."

"I'd honestly prefer to have a baseball bat then my PSI." Ness admitted with a small shrug, "My PSI skill set revolves around physical attacks, so I'm not that powerful compared to Paula and Poo who's pretty much even with physical and mental damage."

"Oh yea… Paula's better with elemental and stat PSI while you just do physical status effects and one main attack." Luna recalled, "I keep forgetting how diverse PSI is…"

"It's weird." Ness sighed, "Every time I think I found something that magic doesn't have PSI I find something."

"It's really weird if you remember that weird story about the aliens." Selvis recalled, "I was browsing through some old comic strips my mother had saved and found out that PSI was a gift from aliens or something."

"That's correct, Giygas was the alien who was supposed to come back and retrieve the gift since their experiment with humans were done." Ness explained, "That sort of backfired since he became friends with a pair of humans which sent the chain of fates into order and my adventure."

"So…Aliens created PSI. And wizards have always been wizards." Luna slowly said frowning slightly, "And yet they have the same principal expect for how it's preformed."

"…Aliens are con artists." Selvis declared before he sat up straight, "Oh yea! I meant to give you guys these."

"These what?" Ness asked as Selvis shoved three colored rocks into their hands, two Gryffindor red and gold rocks into Ginny and Ness's and a Ravenclaw purple into Luna's.

"Communicators." Selvis proudly announced, showing off a Slytherin green and sliver rock before he proudly folded his arms, "Since we're starting our third year and have the choice to branch out in our classes, I'd figure it'll be harder for all of us to meet up later in the school year."

"Especially since _someone_ is a status obsessed student." Ginny coughed earn a sharp retort of, "As if your mother would willing let you walk around with a snake!" from Selvis who looked flustered.

"A-anyway." Selvis continued, "All you have to is tap your wand to it or rub the small rune I carved into the stone and make a small announcement. Then, whenever the receivers check their stone which will faintly glow to alert them to the message they'll get the news."

"So, there magically cell phones." Ness said, gently tossing his rock into the air as he watched the gold flash in the setting sun.

"Cell…phones?" Selvis questioned, getting an abrupt, "Never mind." Before Ness changed the topic, "How did you even make these? They look awesome!"

"Hard work and a lot of stealing." Selvis happily boasted, "Magic is much more complicated than simple PSI, I had to place locator charms and link the charms to each other so they could cover the school yard and beyond if necessary, then I had to carve some runes so the announcements would appear on the stone in writing so the users wouldn't have to worry about being overheard then I had to cover it with a replication potion so the exact message would be heard _and then_ -,"

Long story short, Selvis went on until dinner, animatedly chatting and causing his wand to spark a couple times as he repeated the gestures he had used when he created the Messenger Stones (Created and owned by Selvis of course.) and the process of gathering the muggle ingredients to shine, polish and decorate each rock so they wouldn't be too weird to carry around.

"For a Slythrin, you enjoy creating things." Ginny noted as they hurried down to the Great Hall, "So? I like to keep busy." Selvis huffed as he purposely lagged behind.

"I think you'd do much better in Ravenclaw." Luna admitted, "It sounded so complicated just to ensure that the charms wouldn't fade away easily."

" _I."_ Selvis started, "Am a perfect Slytherin. After all, think of all the accidental gossip I can get from you guys!"

They rolled their eyes as Selvis gasped and whispered to himself something about finding out possible Qudditch team's plans until he realized that Qudditch was canceled for the year and pouted.

"You'll get them next year." Ness offered as they entered the main hallway and headed for their respected seats with their peers who were groaning and bemoaning about classes before talking about the upcoming Hogsmeade.

"We're going to visit the candy store." Ness said when Ginny mentioned about places Ness wanted to visit with them. She blinked in surprise then groaned as Ness excitedly said, "They have prank candy! Can you imagine how annoyed Selvis would be if I tricked him into eating vampire candy?"

"Very, he would probably murder you." Ginny said before a small smile appeared, "And me, since I would probably help."

"…I have a feeling that 'help' well end up hurting Selvis."

"Ye of little faith." Ginny teased as they started on dinner. Slightly relived to see that Hermione was eating until they heard her mention something about protesting for the house elves.

"Well, good luck to her." Ness muttered as he sensed Mad Eye Moody eyeing him and Harry, causing the usual shivers to run down his spine as the electric blue eye slowly focused on something else.

"Whatever he has planned for us better not be too bad." Ness grumbled as dinner ended and weary students headed for bed, "Look on the bright side, at lease we'll get to look at the stars." Ginny yawned before she bid Ness good night and headed for bed.

Leaving Ness to do some last-minute studying for an essay for charms before turning in for the night as well. Having slight nightmares of whatever challenge Mad Eye Moody had in store for the third years.

He was pretty sure everyone was on edge as they slowly filled into Defense Against the Dark Arts, hoping they could have a quiet day of studying and not having to rush to Madam Pomfrey as someone accidentally used the wrong spell and nearly blew off the victim's arm.

But nothing could prepare them for a normal looking classroom with three normal looking spiders in glass jars on Moody's desk. Ness shared a wary glance with Ginny before they sat down and waited as Mad Eye Moody stood up, looking over before slowly nodding.

"Now then… I'm quite sure that you're all wondering why I have these spiders here." Moody slowly started, "Well, I've finally decided that you're ready to witness the true dangers of dark magic."

 _"What?"_ Ness resisted to look around as Moody took a step forward, leaning heavily on his cane, "Now, as most of you should know, dark magic is when the user casts unforgivable and vile spells on their victims, strong enough to break both the caster _and_ the victim if they're not prepared as well as send the user to Azakaban, no questions asked." He paused and looked them over once more, "Now, as clueless as you lot may be thanks to your… off and on teaching styles through the year I'm quite sure that you know the three unforgivable curses which has ruined more lives than the Black plague."

He turned around and slowly wrote out, three spells before facing them once more, "I wanted to show you this on day one, to get a feel for how much your parents coddle you but Dumbledore insisted on spacing out the lessons before I showed these."

 _"I'm going to have nightmares… aren't I?"_ Ness mentally groaned as Moody slammed his cane against the first line of writing on the chalkboard, "The first once, the Cruciatus Curse, used to torture your victims. It's hard to dodge and even harder to block and once you're cursed…" he trailed off slightly as he stepped forward, opening a jar and pulling out a jar as he eyed the frightful third years, "You're done for… Unless you can work through the pain." Moody softly finished as he allowed the giant black spider onto his hand and pointed his wand at it, bellowing, _"Crucio!"_

Ness and Ginny stiffened as the Spider suddenly rolled onto its back, writhing in pain until Moody pulled his wand away, causing the spider to relax in jerking motions.

Crucio, a spell Ness, Ginny and Paula would have been cursed with if Ness hadn't interrupted the wizard's spell and breathing rhythm. The mere memory sent shivers down the spine as he imaged one of his friends hit by that monster of a spell.

"Now, there's the Imperius Curse." Moody continued, unfazed as he placed the twitching spider back into its jar, "This curse can turn you into the user's living puppet if you don't have a strong mind and will to resist the intoxicant effects. Some victims say it felt like they were in a dream as they carried out horrendous tasks for their masters, able to vaguely tell what was going on but not quite." Moody freed the second spider and placed it on the desk, allowing it to scuttle around before he pointed his wand at it and bellowed, _"Impero!"_ causing the spider to freeze then perform lazy cartwheels before it climbed back into the jar and waited as Moody closed the lid and stopped the curse.

"See? No control over its no actions." Moody said before the turned to the third spider who was nervously inching around in its glass prison, "And finally… The Killing Curse. The only thing in the world which can't be stopped… Basically… It's the last chapter of your life." Moody paused then added, "Unless you get lucky like Potter did, but I highly doubt it."

He eyed the class who were slowly shrinking in their seats, fearing the worst for the creepy crawly, "Now… Who knows the name of this curse?"

" _Avada Kedavra._ " Denis Poppit shakily whispered, earning five points toward Gryffindor and a horrific first hand example as Moody freed the third spider and repeated the curse in a low voice. In a flash of sickening green light the spider paused then curled up and rolled onto its side. It's life completely gone.

And with that, so were the nervous fidgets and muffled, "I'm going to be sick." That had been echoing around the classroom as the class gawked in silent horror at the corpse of the suddenly dead spider.

"Now then… I can't ensure your safety if you were to go up against the other two curses." Moody said, unfazed by the pale faces looking at him in sheer horror, "But, I can see to it that you get proper training for the Imperious curse."

"You're joking." Someone feebly squeaked, probably Ness since it was a reflex to crack a joke when things got bad. Moody ignored him, or whoever had said it as he ordered for them to stand up and form a line as he pulled a desk forward.

Instructing that he was going to have them under the curse for a brief time and order them to jump on the desk, their job was to resist and _not_ jump on the desk.

"It's easy." Moody said as everyone slowly tried to form a line, not wanting to be first. Feeling pity and a bit of courage Ness quickly stepped up, giving his peers a small smile as they rushed behind him with grateful smiles.

"Earthbound, eh?" Moody questioned as Ness stepped forward and adjusted his hat, he shrugged and tapped his head, "My friends say I have a hard head, maybe that'll decrease my chances of being cursed.

He got a couple light chuckles for that as Moody merely nodded and pointed his wand at him, yelling, _"Imperio!"_ for a moment, nothing happened, Ness saw a hazy white ball approach him then dissipate but he didn't feel the sudden urge to jump on the desk.

Then, he felt his head explode in pain as a voice boomed, **"Jump on the desk!"** and his PSI went nuts, jumbled words flew past his mind's eye as he tried to focus on Moody who seemed to be growing frustrated as Ness felt his hands curl into fists.

 _"Make me."_ Ness retorted, nearly biting his tongue from the effort from not yelling out in pain as the throbbing pain got worse and the words grew louder, the command now ringing in his ears.

 **"JUMP. ON. THE. DESK!"** the voice screamed as Ness retorted, _"How about you do it instead?!"_ in a desperate attempt to make the yelling and pain stop, _"Now get out of my head!"_

The orders abruptly stopped as something heavy jumped, causing Ness to blink and take a wobbly step back as his classmates gasped and pointed as the heavy thing from before suddenly fell to the ground.

"What…?" Ness questioned, "What's going on?" then he saw the 'heavy' thing was Mad Eye Moody, lying on his back and looking up at the ceiling with wide eyes.

"He jumped on the desk!" Henry Erand exclaimed, "Then he just sort of, _flew_ backwards, as if someone pushed him!"

"What did you do?" Denis asked sounding amazed.

"I dunno…" Ness admitted, "I was just trying to stop my head from hurting."

"Hey… is he alright?" Lila Ribbons asked, "He… isn't moving?"

"Did I kill him?!" Ness yelped as Rose Ribbons and Mike Warf dutifully left class to alert Madam Pomfrey.

"No… He's still breathing." Bella Field said, gingerly poking their teacher with her wand.

"What did you do?" Justine Prince asked in disbelief.

"I dunno!" Ness repeated, "I just told him to jump on the desk and then I yelled at him to get out of my head!" then he frowned and looked at them, "You guys didn't hear me say anything of that?"

"You were mouthing something a couple times," Ginny recalled, "And you looked really frustrated, but you didn't verbally say anything. You just stood their eyes narrowing in frustration and hands balled into fists as Moody tried to make you jump on the desk."

"I could have sworn that I said something aloud…" Ness murmured as Mike and Rose returned with Madam Pomfrey in tow, who did a brief double take at their knocked-out teacher then dismissed them from class, ordering them to give a short essay on what they learned as they hurried to enjoy ten minutes of peace.

"Well, look on the bright side." Ginny offered as they rushed outside for a brief moment before they had to head for Herbology.

"What?" Ness grumbled as he took off his hat, protecting it from the random bursts of wind as September prepared to be replaced with chilly October.

"You're probably not his favorite anymore."

"…Doubt it." Ness sighed as he adjusted his bag and studied a fallen leaf. And, he was right. When the next Defense Against the Dark Arts class rolled around, Moody was practically beaming Ness crooked smiles as the other kids tried, and failed to break free of the Imperus curse.

He even pulled Ness over after class ended to tell him that he did even better than Harry Potter! Who had taken ten tries to completely shake the curse off!

"Greatttt…" Ness groaned as he hurried away, his shoulder crawling from where Moody had touched him. He now, officially hated Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Selvis who had attempted to use the forbidden curse on him only knocked out with a power Hypnosis Alpha and earned an ink painted mustache.

He didn't talk to Ness for a full week after that little incident.

* * *

 **When I was busy writing(/procrastinating.) I was a bit worried about the Mad Eye Moody introduction class since it seemed a bit over a top, then I remembered the few classes that were shown in the book and decided that Moody would totally set up a battle to the death match if he had the chance in order to teach the kids to be overly paranoid and prepared for battle.**


	15. Chapter 15, Halloween!

Ness, wasn't a stranger to holiday buzz or an upcoming event, so he was used to growing weary of someone talking about the many what ifs or who will, questions and the restlessness that loomed on everyone's shoulders as they prepared to represent themselves to the visiting school.

Teachers were snapping a bit more at small mistakes, dropping school names into their scolding before resuming the lessons, Filch came down much harder on anyone tracking muddy footprints or litter bugs as he scoured every inch of the school for prank items.

It was a huge relief for everyone when Hogsmeade weekend rolled around, allowing years 3 and up to run outside and spend their allowance on candy and knickknacks. Even Ness was relived to distract himself for a bit. His lax personality and tendencies to blow something up had made him number one enemy to his stressed teachers.

He'd even gotten in trouble with Professor Trawelany after he accidentally dozed off in the perfume heavy classroom.

"Man… It feels so weird to freely walk out of the school grounds." Ness noted as they lagged behind the crowd of excited students as requested by Selvis who had ditched his school robes for a long black trench coat his mother had sent him and a hunter green paper boy's cap.

"Especially since we're following the rules." Ginny noted.

"Following the-," Selvis started to ask when he stopped himself, "Oh right, Shrieking Shack."

"It was very interesting." Luna mused, "I wonder how he's doing."

"Pretty good. I've seen small stories about him being deemed innocent and hints of the manhunt being called off in the news." Ginny said, "Even Dad was pretty unsure about bringing Black in. Saying that everyone agreed that it might be safer to search every lead before they make a final decision."

"If, they can make one." Selvis said with a small huff, "After all, the picture of Peter Petigrew being alive isn't much, and the Ministry hates to admit they make mistakes."

A thick silence fell over them as they remembered poor Winky, who had been fired to protect Mr. Crouch's reputation. She had been the next item on the Daily Prophet's chopping block after the World Cup incident had lost steam and anger.

"I wonder how she's doing." Luna mused as they entered Hogsmeade and headed for the sweet shop.

"Devastated, probably suicidal." Selvis offered, "House elves take being fired very hard."

Ness cringed as Ginny gasped and looked at them with wide eyes, "You don't think she killed herself! Do you?!"

Selvis shrugged and pushed the door open, flinching at the heavy aroma of freshly baked sweets and sugar floating in the air, pulling them in to try some of the magical candy.

"She'll be fine, Ginny." Ness soothed as they hurried inside to warm up their hands and faces which had been relentlessly nipped by the chilly October air, "For now, let's focus on a much more pressing matter."

They gave him a look then groaned as Ness announced, "A problem that concerns us not acting like jubilant third years!"

"I like being a stick in a mud." Selvis retorted, then he paused and gasped, "Is that a Tricky stick? I've been looking for those things for ages now!" and rushed over to a display of trick wands and long sticks of licorice.

Luna happily glided over to an assortment of cloud mints, proclaiming that you'll feel as light as a cloud when you bit into one of the puffy ball of sky blue cotton candy while Ginny searched a row of chocolates leaving Ness to wander around and study the trick items.

Which were just full of ice rodents and toys that you can trick your friends into eating, a disgusting idea which prompted Ness to browse the lollipops with Luna who was buying a dozen vampire sweets to honor Halloween.

"Don't remind me of that awful American holiday." Selvis groaned as Luna and Ness joined him at the cash register to pay for their sweets, "I don't think I can stand another minute of a teacher breathing down my neck let alone acting perfect for those snobs."

"You don't know that their snobs." Luna softly chided earning a snort from Selvis as he received his change and purchases and stepped out of the line, "Alright, they're not snobs but I'm quite sure that their headmasters are jealous pricks." He hastily added, "And no, not like me." When Luna and Ness shot him a look of 'who's a prick?'

"Just think of it logically, Hogwarts, best school in all of Europe being picked for the Triwizard cups isn't going to reflect well on their own school status." Selvis said, "Especially with all the rumors surrounding Durmstrang about their headmaster."

"What kind of rumors?" Ness questioned.

"Death Eater stuff." Selvis replied with a small shrug, "I don't know, I was too busy trying to figure out why we needed dress robes."

"Oh… Those things." Ness grumbled, remembering the agonizing light grey robes Ms. Weasly picked up for him while they enjoyed their summer.

"Mum made me get one with lace." Selvis grumbled as they walked out of the store he tossed a look at Ginny and almost sneered as he asked, "What about you Weasly? Did your mum give you a hand me down?"

"No, I actually got a new one." Ginny retorted, then she wrinkled her nose slightly, "But it's this annoying pearl pink color with red ribbons on it."

"Cheapest one in the store?"

"At least it's not lace." Ginny shot back, causing Selvis to glue his mouth shut for a bit and sulk.

"You two make such a cute couple." Ness teased earning a laugh from Luna and twin cries out outrage from Ginny and Selvis, "Well whatever we need those bloody robes for I hope it's not important!" Selvis snapped, sounding more flustered and embarrassed than angry, "Because I will not be caught dead in that ridiculous outfit!"

"Me either." Ness said with a shudder, "I'd rather wear a tuxedo!" then he groaned as Selvis, Ginny and Luna shot him a blank look. "Fancy muggle clothing." He deadpanned, "It's like a dress robe only you look like a penguin."

"What's a penguin?" Luna asked, causing Ness to throw his hands up in disbelief until he saw Luna's teasing smile.

"Hey Selvis, I know how you feel about me teasing you." Ness said after he playfully shoved Luna toward a small pile of leaves.

"Finally!" Selvis exclaimed, "Now come on! I want to see if they have a bookstore in this tiny little village."

"They should," Ginny offered, "Unless they're a tourist attraction."

Ness was about to nod in agreement when he noticed a small group of robed women who didn't go to their school and corrected himself, "Or, it could be both a tourist trap and a village."

"Hopefully more a village than a trap." Selvis grumbled as they broke away from the main square where most of their peers were and wandered down a subdued street, complete with hanging pumpkin lanterns and small apartments.

While they searched, they chatted about news happening around their houses, something they rarely got to do since they usually had more pressing matters. Ness found it relaxing to talk about Fred and George's plans of entering the Triwizard tournament and Hermione's program to protect the house elves.

Something Selvis found hilarious when Ginny informed him it was called S.P.E.W-Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, and had to lean against a faded storefront to catch his breath as Luna merely frowned, stating that the elfish welfare was perfectly fine at the moment despite some minor changes being needed and that Hermione shouldn't disrupt the elves lives for something they didn't care about.

"That place looks promising." Ginny noted as they slowly came to the end of the road, pointing toward a small cottage that had posters and a book display in the window.

"About time, I was afraid this backwards village was a complete tourist trap." Selvis huffed, "Hopefully they'll have what I need."

"Which is…?" Ness questioned as they entered the bookstore, enjoying the musty smell of old books and sneezing at how much dust covered the bookshelves and floor.

"I'm interested in the history of the Triwizard cup." Selvis explained, "And about those other schools. The Hogwarts library has a couple books but the bookworms already got their hands on them."

"A.K.A Hermione Granger." Ness joked as he recalled Hermione walking away from the library with a stack of books in her hands.

"And the Ravenclaws." Luna added, "A lot of the girls are trying to learn as much as they can so they can impress the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students."

"Or how to make a love potion." Selvis grumbled, "Now come on, I want to get back before dinner."

"Sure, but… what are we looking for exactly?" Ginny asked, picking up a book labeled "The Wild in You." And wrinkling her nose as the dust that floated off the book.

"Erm…" Selvis paused and gave a sheepish frown, "I, have no clue."

"We should look for history and European culture." Ness offered, "Hogwarts is practically a living historic monument, which means that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be too."

"Good point." Selvis said with a nod, "Now let's just hope this bookstore has its books divided into genres."

It didn't, which made the entire search much more frustrating as they sorted through rows upon rows of musty books and shot glares at the empty cash register.

It had been a blessing when Luna emerged from the cobweb infested back of the store holding a book labeled Europe's School for Young Wizards and a Triwizard Of the Ages.

"I hate this place." Selvis declared as the cashier finally showed up and allowed Selvis to pay for his books.

"Agreed." Ness coughed as he dusted his hat off, "But, at least we can head back for dinner."

"Is that before or after we take a bath?" Ginny questioned, "We look like dust monsters."

Selvis groaned while Luna hummed, "I'm fine with looking like a dust monster." Earning another groan as they made their way to Main Street to head back to the castle for dinner. Tossing theories around about how the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students would arrive, Ginny suggested that they come in a fancy carriage representing their school colors.

Selvis haughtily said they'd use winged animals from their homeland and ride in style, Luna suggested cloud animals earning baffled looks from everyone while Ness merely said, "An Airplane." And a couple looks of 'really?' once they realized he was joking.

Earning a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from the girls while Selvis shook his head, "Muggles are boring." He argued, "Who needs an airplane when you have a broom!"

"More like a death trap." Ness grumbled as they went their separate ways to clean up and head for dinner. Of course, nothing could have fully prepared them for how the two schools arrived.

On October 30th, day before Halloween everyone was on edge awaiting the big arrival and the entry process for the Triwizad Cup. Theories of how the two schools would arrive and how students would sign up were flying fast and furious through the air, classes were shorter as the students focused more and more about their looks and theories and the teachers were completely winded up now.

Forcing clumsy and low ranking students to be on guard unless they wanted a detention as they waited for classes to officially end so they could rush up or down to their common rooms to do last minute cleanup of their looks.

"This is so awkward." Ness grumbled as the final bell allowed the Gryffindor's to rush upstairs to dump their school supplies and pull on cloaks and wizard hats (Something Ness had been dreading to wear for the entire school year.) and rush back to the grand entrance hall to be sorted into lines.

"Shush." Ginny murmured as she listened to the Head of Houses give out orders and snapped at students with crooked hats and hair accessories. By the time the Head of House were satisfied with their house appearance it was nearly six and everyone was shivering with anticipation as they looked around, glanced at their watches and whispered to their friends.

"How do you reckon they'll get here?" Ness heard Ron whispered, resisting the urge to turn around and look as Ron continued, "By train?"

Hermione gave a small sniff at Ron for breaking the tense silence before whispering, "Doubt it."

"Maybe by broom then?" Harry offered causing Ness to grumble, "There suicidal if they do come on brooms." And Ginny to roll her eyes before she continued whispering to a girl Ness didn't recognized.

"Port key then?" Ron suggested, "Or maybe they'll Apperate here." Earning a soft scolding from Hermione who told him that you couldn't apperate in or out of the school grounds.

 _"Unless you're a PSI user like I am."_ Ness thought as he heard Harry softly start to say, "Didn't Ness apperate…?" before he stopped himself and clammed up.

The hushed whispers quickly died down as the anticipation turned into worry and impatience as they scanned the forest grounds and the skies. Were they late? Lost? Or were they in trouble with no way to call for help.

Or-,

"Ah, here come the delegation from Beauxbatons!" Dumbledore announced from the far back of the orderly line pointing toward the sky beyond the Forbidden Forest and toward a looming shadow that was rapidly approaching the castle.

"It's a dragon!" a first year yelled as Luna yelled, "A shadow carriage!"

Only to be hastily corrected by a sixth year who shouted, "No! It's a flying house!" only to be proven wrong as a team of four golden giant horses carrying a carriage the size of a house landed on the castle ground with a loud thud that caused the entire row of students to tremble and take leery steps back as the carriage came to a jolting halt.

A bit _too_ close for their liking as the giant golden horse peered down at them, their wings rustling as the carriage door decorated with three gold wands with stars for tips flew open and a boy wearing a powder blue robe the same color as the carriage hurried out and pulled out a golden step for the riders to disembark on.

A loud ripple of surprised gasps over took the students as a giant shoe, at least the size of a small child gracefully stepped out and a woman half the size of the carriage came out. Dressed completely in black satin that made her olive colored skin and hair which was tightly pulled into a bun glow as she placed a hand on her jeweled encrusted necklace.

It wasn't until Dumbledore started to clap that the students fell out of their trance and hastily did the same.

"It's wonderful to see you Madam Maxine." Dumbledore greeted his smile never faltering as the woman—Madam Maxine nodded in acknowledgement before replying in a heavy French accent, "And it is wonderful to see you to, Misour Dumbledore." She studied the crowd in front of her, "Ah, but where is Karkaroff?" Maxine suddenly asked as her students began trooping out of the carriage one by one and stood behind their head mistress.

"He should be here momentarily." Dumbledore said with a thoughtful hum, "But until then, why don't you and your students wait inside? We have food and refreshments waiting."

"We can wait," Maxine said, "After all, the trip here wasn't so bad."

"If you insist," Dumbledore started when something caught his eye, "Ah! And here comes Durmstrang." He announced, gesturing toward the lake where supposedly the giant octopus lived as the water boiled and bubbled until a modern giant pirate ship exploded out of the water.

Earning loud gasps of surprise and awe from the Hogwarts and Beauxton students as the ship with a horrific symbol of a two headed golden bird resting on a blood colored skull of a bull on the main sail as it floated toward land and lowered a gangplank. Allowing a man dressed in stark crimson robes marched out, stomping a staff like cane as a group of blandly dressed students marched out, they were mostly boys with stark expressions and hard features as they marched in front of the school entrance.

Ness stifled a gasp as he briefly spotted Victor Krum in the crowd, his posture pose and his face more or less blank as a couple Beauxtion girls noticed him and giggled in surprise.

He vaguely heard excited whispers of, "I didn't know he was still in school!" and, "No way, Victor Krum?!" as they politely clapped for the headmaster of Durmstrang as he stepped forward, nodding his head in greeting at Madam Maxine and Dumbledore who returned the nod with a warm smile, "Karkaroff! Good to see you." Dumbledore said, "How was your trip?"

"A bit cumbersome, the waves were rough and the clouds were dark." Kacroff said, his heavy Russian accent laced with irritation as he spoke, "But, we're here, none the less."

"Wonderful to hear," Dumbledore said his smile never wavering as he turned toward the door as the rest of Kacroff's students filed out of the boat, "Dinner is served inside, along with room for everyone, so if you would kindly follow us."

With a buzz of excitement and questions of where the visitors were going to sleep, the students followed Dumbledore inside the Great Hall and sat down, silently praying that Victor Krum- who Ness noticed appeared to be treated much better than his peers after Kacroff asked Dumbledore for some beer for Krum's upset stomach and smacked another student for asking if he could have some as well—would sit at their house table.

"Come on, come on!" Ron practically begged as he shoved Harry aside to make room for Victor Krum as every Hogwarts student sat at their respected tables and made room for their guests, "Sit here, sit here! Hermione budge over a bit-,"

"Too late." Hermione interrupted as Victor and his classmates headed over to the Slytherin table, earning muffled groans of dismay from the Qudditch fans and a quiet, "Yes!" from Ness, who didn't want to have to filter out Qudditch questions as he ate.

"I blame you for this." Ginny grumbled giving Ness a pointed look as a pretty girl with platinum blonde hair took Victor's spot, causing the groans to suddenly stop as they studied their newcomer from Beauxbation.

"Selvis will thank me later." Ness casually replied as food appeared and everyone started to eat, happily talking about the differences about their school and meals or just talking about general news.

It wasn't too long until Ness was dragged into a conversation thanks to Ginny and a third year Beauxtion girl by the name of Adaliz Noble who were talking about the possible judges.

"I think the Headmasters of each school will pick the champion." Ginny theorized, causing Adaliz to frown slightly and shake her head no, "That would be unfair to the other students." She pointed out, her accent turning the into ze's, "I think it'll be the Minister who picks the three champions."

"He's supposed to come?" Ness asked, "I thought it would be someone else, like from the games department."

"Like Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman?" Adaliz questioned, then she frowned and wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Although, after how those Death Eaters got into the Tournament to wreak havoc, I doubt it. They'll be lucky to still have a job."

"I heard everything got pushed onto the lower ranking wizards of the Ministry." Ness said, knowing full well that the only bad thing that would happen to Crouch and questionable Bagman would a pay cut from their salary.

"Anything." Ginny loudly stated, causing them to look at her, "The judge, if it's not going to be a Ministry official, who do you think it will be?"

"Maybe an item like the Hat?" Ness offered when Adaliz frowned once more shutting down the theory with, "Madam Maxine informed us that the judge would be arriving tomorrow, indicating that it would be a person coming, not a thing."

"Maybe Hogwarts doesn't have their own object judge?" Ness tried, "Maybe they rent the 'judge' from the Ministry when the Triwizard cup rolls around."

"That would make sense," Ginny mused, "And it would explain how all three schools can host the Triwizard Cup without complications."

"I wonder what the Triwizard Cup will be like." Adaliz wondered aloud, "My mother said that her great grandmother got a chance to be in it, and that she faced a horrendous Earth Troll for one of the challenges."

Ness bit his lip to resist making an internet troll joke as Ginny gave her own thoughts on the trails, "It'll probably focus on wit, spell casting and bravery, three core strengths a wizard needs."

"Bravery sounds more like a Gryffindor thing than a wizard thing." Ness pointed out, "Maybe instead of bravery it'll be something else."

"Like courage!" Adaliz offered.

"Still a form of bravery." Ginny said, causing the French girl to frown slightly and think of something else. Before she could, the food disappeared and Dumbledore stood up, attracting everyone's attention as they quieted down.

"Now I'm sure you are all excited to meet our judge and begin the sign-up process." Dumbledore started before he grew vaguely serious, "But, as a friendly reminder those under the set age of the tournament shall not be allowed to enter, and we'll have a strict age line to ensure that no one under 18 can participate."

There were a couple groans from everyone 17 and under but they Dumbledore waved them away with a cheerful smile, "Now, with this in mind, you are all dismissed! Good night and pleasant dreams!"

"He much bubblier than Karkaroff or Madam Maxine." Adaliz noted as she got up to head back outside with her fellow Beauxbations, apparently, they would have their classes and sleeping arrangements in their magical carriages while Durmstrang slept in their boat.

"And crazier." Ness said before he followed his fellow Gryffindors to their common room, wide awake as theories about how to get past the age line to enter the sign-up area flew around the air.

Of course, no one was prepared for their 'judge'.

"Is that a burning lamp?" Ness asked as they walked into the Great Hall on Halloween morning, the tables had been shoved aside to allow a burning green goblet of fire with a giant powder white circle around it to be right in front of the room.

"Is… That the sign-up process?" Ginny asked as Ron, Harry and Hermione sat beside them, unable to tear their eyes away from the oddly colored flames spewing from the goblet.

"Has to be." Ron stated, "It has an age line and everything."

"I guess the judge is late today." Harry said, although he sounded a little unsure as everyone slowly started to eat breakfast, sneaking glances at the goblet every now and then as they ate. Even the Beauxton and Durmstrang students seemed confused as they came in for breakfast and to sign up before classes started.

"Do you know what it is?" Adaliz asked as she joined the Gryffindor table, no one had an answer, except Ness who sarcastically said, "Clearly not a burning torch." Which earned him an annoyed glare from Ginny and a crisp, "It's a goblet, probably the sign-up item." From Hermione.

"It is… a bit much in my opinion." Adaliz said with a small frown of disapproval.

"At least it's not singing." Ness offered, then he paused and looked at the goblet in horror, "It's not going to sing, right?!"

"I think we're safe from that." Harry said with a small chuckle.

"Besides, why on earth would it sing?" Ron asked, "That'd be just dumb."

"I'm sorry, but were you or were you not sorted by a dying sorting hat that sang?" Ness retorted, "Which, in hum—Muggle terms, is disturbing and dumb."

"You have a singing hat?" Adaliz asked, "Does it sing at dinner as well? Or just for the 'sorting'?"

"If it did, then it would have been burned long ago." Ness grumbled.

"Sadly, we don't have any wood nymphs serenading us at dinner." Hermione answered, although she didn't look to upset by this fact, probably because she was wondering if they were treated fairly.

"You guys have wood nymphs?" Ginny asked.

Adaliz nodded and added, "As well as never melting ice statues that sparkle under the torchlight for Christmas, sometimes the students can submit designs for how the statues look."

"Fancy." Ness whistled as Ginny glanced up at their Halloween decor, which seemed less amazing now compared to the Beauxtons' decor.

"So, how did you sleep Adaliz?" Ginny asked, picking at her food as she divided her attention on Adaliz and the Teacher's table which was full of hearty chatter compared to the subdued whispers coming from their students.

"I barely got any sleep." Adaliz admitted, "All the seniors were fretting about the sign-up process and possible tests, not that I blame them, it's been ages since the last Triwizard Tournament."

"Who hosted the last one?" Hermione asked, looking a little intrigued.

"I believe it was Durmstrang." Adaliz mused, "I can't be sure since I remember that was also the year where the Beauxtons had a bitter defeat."

"To which school?"

"I believe it was Durmstrang." Adaliz grumpily answered, shooting a glare at the Slytherin table, where most of the Durmstrang students were.

"So, they have a win streak and a world-famous sports player." Ness commented, "Interesting."

"And Malfoy's busy rubbing elbows with them." Ron practically growled, "Lucky git."

Adaliz wrinkled her nose slightly in disgust, "I don't see what's so great about having a Qudditch player sitting with you, I'd much rather talk to a world-famous Molo player than a Qudditch one."

"Looks like you lucked out Harry," Ness teased before he asked, "And what the heck is Molo?"

"It's muggle polo, but with Pegasuses." Adaliz explained, her eyes lighting up, "It's quite intense! Just last year, captain Julia Sanfrecix of the Bluebirds had an epic battle against Champions De Dentelle leader Anderia Flare!"

"Champions of de what?" Ron and Ness questioned, prompting to Hermione to answer, "It's French for Lace champions."

"You know French?" Adaliz asked, looking surprised.

"Bits and pieces, my parents like to travel." Hermione explained before she asked, "Now how exactly do you play Polo on Pegasuses? It seems really dangerous."

"It is, but we've trained long and hard before we're allowed on the field." Adaliz started, causing Ness to tune her out and focus on the tables around them.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time discussing how different their schools were and about the upcoming tournament, the Ravenclaws were having a hearty debate with some beautiful girls and boys from Beauxtons over history while the Hufflepuffs were doing their best to make the Durmstrang students feel at home as they talked about their favorite activities and hobbies.

Even the Slytherin students seemed cheerful as they made connections and joked, probably about the other houses but they earned hearty laughter none the less.

But the hearty mood was quickly dampened (Well, slightly dampened) when Dumbledore stood up and tapped the side of his glass, causing everyone to slowly stop talking and face forward.

"Good morning!" Dumbledore chirped, "As you can see, our judge has arrived!"

"You mean the burning torch?" Ness joked, earning a couple chuckles which abruptly when Dumbledore nodded his head yes, "Yes Earthbound, this, is the Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore started, "The process is simple, you write your name and school on a slip of paper-,"

Right on cue, slips of paper and inked quills appeared in front of their plates, waiting to be used, "And drop them into the fire. At the end of tonight's feast, we'll announce the chosen champions. Now, any questions?"

Ness raised his hand,

"Yes, Earthbound?"

"Does the Goblet sing by any chance? Since I seriously do not want a repeat of singing four leaf clovers haunting me in my sle—ow! Ginny!"

"Nope! No questions!" Ginny finished, shooting Ness a glare as he rubbed his bruised shoulder, "It's an honest question." He grumbled as the tables exploded with laughter.

"You really hate singing objects." Adaliz giggled.

"Objects that aren't powered by batteries, shouldn't sing." Ness huffed as Dumbledore continued, "Now as a forewarning, those under the age limit shall be rejected to ensure that no one underage gets in. You may enter your name, starting now."

"I wonder what happens if you try to enter underage." Ness mused as those eligible hastily wrote their name and school down and stood up, forming a line and dropping their names into the glowing fire.

There were a couple ohs and awes as the fire roared and crackled, the green flames rising to dangerous levels before quickly simmering down.

"We're getting in," Fred whispered as a couple Hogwarts students, entered their names, one of them being Cedric Diggery from Hufflepuff, "Just you wait."

Hermione rolled her eyes as Ron and Harry leaned forward, intrigued, "How?" Ron asked, "I doubt you can fool an age line."

"You can't." Hermione unhelpfully added, earning a couple looks of disbelief from her friends.

"You'll see." George simply said, "At lunch, we're entering."

"Good luck." Ness said as the bell rang, signaling the start of school and classes. Everyone was once again, excited at who the champion would be as they worked, even Selvis seemed content with whoever the champion would be, although he hissed to Ness during potions that the champion would surely be a Slytherin as they worked on their Soothing Springs potion.

"If you say so." Ness whispered back before adding, "The Weasly twins plan on entering the tournament during lunch."

"Morons." Selvis snorted before they resumed working on their potions. And by the time lunch rolled around, Ness had to agree with Selvis. The age line wasn't going to be like those bouncers outside of clubs who would let minors in if they had a fake ID card or machines that didn't have facial recognition.

It would probably use magical statistics and search the users' wand to see what magic they used to determine the year and possible age.

So, when Fred and George proudly took a couple drops of some potion that would age them up to 18 and marched up the line, Ness was ready for failure.

"Made it!" George triumphantly announced as he and Fred stepped inside the circle with ease causing everyone who had known about the twins' plan beforehand to share looks of, "It actually worked!" while Hermione curtly said, "It'll fail, just watch."

"I don't know Hermione, they've gotten farther than most underage students." Ness pointed out,

"And there _inside_ the circle." Ron added, "They can enter!"

"Looks like we were wrong." Harry simply said before he started to resume eating his lunch.

"So much for my five sickles." Ginny sighed as she watched the twins march up the goblet to put their names in and leave before the teachers realized that something was up.

The slips of paper didn't even touch the fire before the twins were suddenly sent backward with a loud pop and an explosion of smoke. Attracting everyone's attention as the twins sat up and looked at each other.

"They have beards!" Selvis exclaimed breaking the stunned silence as people studied the snow-white beards on the twins' face, "Really genuine beards!"

"Best. Punishment ever." Ness said fighting back a laugh as George recovered from the shock and flipped his beard over his shoulder like a rock star, earning light laughter which grew louder as Fred boasted, "My beard is probably even better than Dumbledore's!"

"I doubt it Mr. Weasly." Dumbledore chuckled, "Although, Milly Stepford had a remarkable beard earlier. I dare say it was even longer than mine."

"I wonder how many people have beards now." Ginny mused as Ron grumbled, "I thought it actually worked."

"Well, at least they got something for their troubles." Harry offered as the twins headed to the hospital wing to remove the beards before class started.

Hermione merely huffed in disagreement and resumed eating while Ness started to crack jokes, earning a death glare from Ginny after a bit.

"You are so insufferable." Ginny exclaimed as they headed to Ness's lease favorite class, "How come you realize that but Professor Moody doesn't?" Ness asked, "Do I have to interrupted his class to make hate me!?"

"Do you really want to get on Mad eyed Moody's bad side?" Ginny questioned, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"…Never mind."

"That's that I thought."

* * *

A couple grueling and boring classes later, the Halloween Feast began with charmed bats that would glow a spooky orange every now and then, cloudy weather reflected on the magical celling and outside, giving a horror movie feel and pumpkin themed food to really liven up the holiday.

Everyone was in a good yet understandable tense as they ate, drank and cracked jokes. Well, the cracking jokes part was mostly thanks to Ness since he remembered a handful of good Halloween jokes. Which apparently, only Adaliz, Hermione and Harry appreciated since they were muggle jokes.

"Hey guys, what's a ghost's favorite dance move?" Ness asked just as Nearly Headless Nick floated past, "The _Ecto_ -slide!"

"Actually, I prefer the Dead Waltz." Nearly Headless Nick corrected, causing Ness to jump in surprise and shot him a glare of disbelief, "It's a joke Nick," Ness tried to explain.

"Not a very good one." Nearly Headless Nick replied before he went to talk to some Second Years.

"Why echo?" Ginny asked as Ness took a bite from his pumpkin pastry.

"Ecto." Harry corrected, "Muggles like to think that ghosts are made up of green glowing goo called ecto-plasma."

"But they aren't." Ron pointed out with a confused frown.

"They are for muggles." Ness replied, "After all, we don't get to chat to the ghosts on a daily basis."

"Really? Why not?" Adaliz asked, "Surely they have ghosts lingering around old buildings."

"Magical things don't exist for muggles Adaliz, we just think it's make pretend until we get physical proof." Ness explained, "Like how you guys don't understand the need for airplanes."

"Air…planes?"

"Or know what those are." Ness sighed as Ginny patted his shoulder in sympathy.

"Oh! They're about to announce the champions!" Hermione announced, causing everyone to face the teacher's table. Dumbledore had stood up, ending his chat with Madam Maxine and Krakroff as he moved for the goblet, "Now ladies and gentlemen." Dumbledore started, "As I'm sure you quiet now, our champion selection shall begin! When your name is called, you are to go into the hallway outside of the dining hall and wait for further instructions. First, from Beauxton,"

With a fiery explosion, a paper slip flew out of the fire and landed in Dumbledore's outstretched hand, "Flurr Decoure!" he announced earning cheers from the Beaubaxtons and oddly enough, from a lot of the guys as Flurr, a young woman with long platinum blonde hair gracefully stood up and beamed everyone a grin before she walked down the aisle and headed outside.

"And from Durmstrang," another explosion of fire, "Victor Krum!"

"Go Krum!" Ron cheered as everyone clapped for the Qudditch star player who stood up and gave everyone a curt nod before he went to join Flurr.

"Finally, Hogwarts—Cedric, Diggery!"

"You got this!" Ness yelled as Cedric stood up, looking a little flustered as his Quddtich team gave him hearty slaps on the backs and the entire Hufflepuff section screamed their heads off with joy. It took him a while to join Flurr and Krum but he made it, his face a bright red from all the attention he got.

"Now, the first event shall be on-," Dumbledore started when a _fourth_ explosion of fire caused a slip of paper to appear, then a fifth, a sixth and finally, a seventh. Earning looks of confusion from everyone as Dumbledore clumsily caught them, his normally half closed eyes a little wide with surprise as he listed, "Harry Potter, Ness Earthbound, Adaliz Noble and Alexander Vadim."

* * *

 **Dun dun dun! More champions! Also, I hate Flur and Adaliz's school. T_T I keep forgetting how to spell it while I write, hence why there are so many variations of said school in this chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16, This is why we need rules

No one moved, they just looked at their headmaster and host in confusion.

"Well, come along then." Dumbledore said, gesturing for the four extra editions to join the first three champions.

"Is—is the goblet defected?" Ness wondered aloud, his brain reeling as he stood up and moved for the door, slowly being followed by Harry who looked just as stunned as Ness felt, a nervous Adaliz who was muttering something under her breath in rapid French while Alexander looked straight ahead, looking incredibly sick as they entered the hallway.

Cedric and Victor looked surprised by the young students arrival but Flurr took it in good stride, a worried frown appearing as she approached them, "Do the teachers need us for something?" Flurr asked.

"I wish." Ness grumbled as Alexander mumbled something in Russian and leaned against the wall.

"What?" Victor exclaimed, "What do you mean you're all champions?"

"Is this a joke? I mean, you guys are at least 3rd years, right? Well, Harry's a fourth year but still, you look like 3rd years." Cedric said.

Adaliz answered in shaky French as Harry tried to explain, "The goblet picked us, and everyone saw it."

"There allowing little kids to enter in the tournament?" Flurr exclaimed, her pretty eyes widening in surprise and oddly enough disgust.

 _"Well this little kid managed to save the world at the age of 12. So there."_ Ness thought before he threw his hands out, "Hey! Don't get mad at us! The goblet's defected or something!"

"I think those red heads broke it earlier." Adaliz whispered.

Harry shook his head no but didn't argue, for now. They were just going to have to wait for a teacher to sort this mess out. Professor McGonagall was finally sent out, killing the angry questions bubbling in the champions throat with a swift glare as she curtly instructed, "Follow me, the headmasters wish to speak privately about this."

"But Professor-," Flur tried when she was silenced by a firm, "Privately." And another glare from the professor. Ness and Harry exchanged uneasy looks as they dutifully did as told. Entering one of the teacher's office on the third floor and standing by the door as Professor McGonagall left them.

Allowing the questions to pile up even more as they nervously occupied themselves with fidgeting and looking around the office, trying to figure out who it belonged to.

 _"I'm seriously starting to wonder if I'm in some sort of soap opera."_ Ness darkly thought as they heard the sound of muffled arguing coming from behind the door, which burst open revealing the three headmasters, Mad Eye Moody, Professor McGonagall and oddly enough, Snape.

"This is an outrage!" Karkaroff spluttered, his face purple with rage, "I demand a recall!" Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something, probably something to calm him down when Madam Maxine said, her voice full of disbelief, "A recall? For what! We should be figuring out how four extra students became contestants!"

"Agreed." Snape said, his eyes darting to Harry and Ness with a glint of suspicion, "I'm especially intrigued to know how a third year and a fourth year managed to become champions."

Ness flinched as Snape suddenly asked—or rather barked, "So? Who did you two bribe to put your names in the cup?"

"Severus, I doubt they bribed anyone-," Professor McGonagall started when Karkaroff cut her off, harshly asking, "Well? How did you two manage to become champions?"

Adaliz looked somewhat offended at the fact they everyone was focusing on the two extra Hogwarts students while Alexander was leaning against the wall, looking even worse than before.

"Settle down." Dumbledore ordered, still calm despite the rising tempers in the room as Flur and Victor waited to put their two cents in, "I'll get to the bottom of this," he turned to the four extra champions and calmly asked, "Did you ask anyone to put your names in?"

They shook their heads no, "Are you quite sure? Did you drop any accidental hints about entering as a joke?"

They shook their heads no once more while Alexander choked out, "My friends wouldn't do it, they know I'm terrified about the Triwizard tournament after I found out how my great grandfather died."

Dumbledore nodded his head in understanding and turned back to Madam Maxine and Karkaroff, "Well, that answers that."

"Someone else most likely did, perhaps a teacher." Mad Eye Moody supplied, his blue eye looking at Snape who scowled in disbelief then at Karkaroff who flinched at the accusation.

"But why?" Adaliz questioned, "and why are we involved in this?"

 _"Because of freaking Peter Petigrew."_ Ness thought, his stomach turning into knots as he pictured what the plan was supposed to be, get Harry and the boy who could wield PSI and possibly take them out in a friendly bout of sportsmanship gone wrong.

Adaliz and Alexander were probably picked just so there wouldn't be a huge amount of suspicion towards the two extra Hogwarts students. He hoped that maybe Dumbledore would have saw this, and insisted on pulling out the four extra champions just to appease the tournament rules and the angry headmasters but instead he merely said, "Well then, tomorrow there will be a weighing of the wands before the tournament starts, it'll be after class so don't forget."

"I refuse!" Kakraroff growled, "I demand that there is a recount so we can have an extra student to balance it out!"

"Agreed!" Madam Maxine said.

"The flames had already died, what's done is done." Dumbledore solemnly said. The seven champions looked at him in disbelief, the official three at the fact they would be competing against younger students who were clearly not prepared for this and the younger champions at the fact that they would be risking their lives for something they didn't sign up for in the first place.

Ness glanced around the room, his anger and shock roaring inside him as he saw the stunned faces of Adaliz, Harry and Alexander who had actually fainted from the news.

"Hold the phone!" Ness blurted out, causing the headmasters and teachers temporally stop talking (arguing) about the new adjustments, "Harry, Adaliz, Alexander and I are all underage!"

"We've noticed." Victor dryly noticed, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

"So shouldn't we be kicked out or something?!" Ness demanded. His nails digging into the palms of his hands as Snape coldly stated, "For some reason or another, the Goblet has chosen you four, there's nothing we can do about it for the time being."

"He's right Earthbound." Professor McGonagall said, looking even less thrilled than Snape was at the fact she had to agree with him, "Until we can find out exactly what and how this happened, you'll be contestants."

"What about the rule book?!" Ness asked, "Doesn't it say something about this!?" he got blank looks while Dumbledore's eyes slowly started to roam the room as if avoiding something, "…You're joking." Ness deadpanned, "You guys NEVER made a rule book?!"

"The Ministry has it." Madam Maxine simply said, "And it'll be too much of a hassle to get the proper forms to get the book-,"

"Forms?! Why do you need forms to get the rule book for an event that barely happens anymore?!"

"That does seem a bit ridiculous." Cedric said.

"Hasn't something like this happened before?" Harry asked, "Well, not exactly like this but maybe someone entered us under a different school name or-,"

"Impossible!" Karkaroff snapped, "You can't trick the goblet!"

"Well. SOMEONE just did!" Ness yelled, "How else do you explain the _seven_ champions standing in front of you!?"

"I formally request to forfeit the tournament." Adaliz voiced, folding her arms and glancing at Alexander, "And I'm quite sure that Alexander would do the same."

"Yes! Forfeiting!" Ness felt a small bubble of hope as he repeated what Adaliz said. It popped within a nano-second as Dumbledore informed them, "Forfeiting is strictly forbidden given the limited number of champions and can only be performed in serious emergencies."

"This IS an emergency!" Ness shot back, "We're all underage and I can't even do a basic spell!"

"S-same." Alexander feebly muttered, his eyes fluttering open, "I'm still a second year in terms of magic. I flunked my year exam and was held back."

Ness angrily pointed at Alexander in a manner of 'See?! Emergency!' as the headmasters exchanged looks, two, competitive looks. Oh, you had got to be kidding!

They knew perfectly well about the rule book and what it stated! Maxine and Karkaroff just didn't want to do it so they could have a somewhat even playing field for the freaking tournament since they thought Dumbledore might be cheating!

And speaking of Dumbledore, why was he staying quiet!? He was the one the entire wizarding world was going to blame for this and—wait, why was Moody, Mr. I'm paranoid about everything being so quiet?

Shouldn't he be _agreeing_ with Ness on this? And pointing out the potential dangers of Peter Petigrew, a known death eater now setting this whole thing up? Yet here he was, staying eerily quiet as the Headmasters finished their argument and sealed the four new champions fates with the order to get some rest for the big day.

Ness felt his ears ring as they were ushered outside the office and forced to head to their bedrooms. Before Adaliz, Alexander—who was leaning on Harry for support and Harry could move to head to their respective dorms Ness stopped them.

"Tomorrow, after the wand weighing we're going to make a plan." He stated.

"What kind of plan?" Alexander faintly asked.

"A plan to survive this dumb tournament." Ness replied, "We're the youngest and less experience in this whole mess. So, were going to even the playing field by working together."

"But… the prize money," Adaliz started when Ness cut her off with a sharp, "Is it worth possibly getting seriously hurt, or worse. Killed?"

She paled and shook her head no, looking a little scared. His heart went out to her but he couldn't back down now.

He wasn't sure what the challenges would be, but considering how everything in this school seemed to be pushing him and Harry toward the most dangerous things, he could say it would be hard and utterly mind numbing to perform.

"Alright," Alexander agreed, "We'll meet at the lake, with the giant squid."

"Sounds good to me." Ness said as Adaliz murmured, "Mama is going to be so surprised when I write to her."

"See you in the afternoon then," Harry called as they went their separate ways. Silently climbing the stairs to the Fat lady's painting as their minds went over today's events.

Ness was about to ask if Harry knew anything about wizards being possibly insane when they entered the common room and were greeted with loud cheers and a party banner.

"Congrats!" someone yelled as Ness and Harry were pulled out of the portrait hole and thrown into the heart of the party, "How'd you do it?" Fred asked as someone shoved a butterbeer into Ness's numb hands, "How'd you fake the age line?"

"Yea! And why didn't you tell us?" Ron asked while Hermione tittered about rule breaking from the corner of the common room.

"We weren't planning this-," Harry tried when Dean interrupted him, "Go for the gold you two!"

"Hey—wait," Ness started when Ginny pushed through the crowd and grabbed Harry and Ness's hands, leading them over to Hermione's corner.

"Heard everything," Ginny murmured, "Selvis activated your stone and allowed me and Luna to ease drop."

"Wizards are insane." Ness faintly said, as people shook his and Harry's friend hand with cheerful, "Good luck!" and "Awesome job mates!" before they resumed partying with fireworks and somehow, music.

"This… is going to get a lot worse." Harry murmured as they collapsed into a free chair.

"Of course, it will." Hermione stiffly said, "But you two knew that when you were signing up, didn't you?"

Ness bit back a scream of frustration as Harry hissed, "If we had planned this then why do think Adaliz and Alexander were brought with us? Someone set us up!"

"Like a certain rat." Ness grounded out. Hermione blinked then stifled a gasp as she realized all the possible 'accidents' that could happen to them out on the field, "I didn't even think about that!"

"Apparently, no one else did either." Ness growled, glaring at the partying Gryffindors with a burning annoyance for wizards. This wasn't something to celebrate! They were underage and inexperienced teenagers being thrown into the gauntlet for entertainment! Who cared about the money when you considered the dangerous risks looming around the corner!

Apparently not Ron since he joined them, ignoring Ginny's warning glare or the frustrated tension in the air and asked, "No, seriously how did you guys get into the tournament?"

"We. Didn't. ENTER." Ness snarled, fed up with the lack of common sense these people had. With a curt, "I'm heading to bed." He stormed into his dormitory as Harry and Ron got into a brief argument.

His mood only worsened when Selvis messaged him, whispering, "We're making badges to celebrate Cedric's entry, oh, we're also cheering for Hufflepuff."

"Good, I'd rather they get the support we don't deserve." Ness growled, causing Selvis to whistle and snicker, "I've never heard you _this_ upset before, Earthbound."

"You know what I'm ticked off about."

"Oh, you mean the rule-book which is looking up at me?"

Ness bolted up right and looked down at the glowing Gryffindor stone in disbelief, "How." He demanded.

"Swiped it from the restricted area in the library when I heard you ask about a rule book." Selvis explained, "There _has_ been other underage wizards that competed but they were abruptly pulled out by the school for fear of backlash of the public."

"And the reason why we can't?"

"No clue, everything you stated and tried—forfeiting and getting disqualified, would have worked. Dumbledore and others just, ignored it."

"This year, I am so going back to the Dumbledore is evil theory." Ness mumbled, then he groaned as Luna sleepily asked, "Is that before or after the champions get interviewed by the newspaper?"

"Ohhh! You might have to look out for Rita Skitter!" Selvis warned with a gleeful edge to his voice.

"Who?"

"I'll tell you in the morning—oh! You want a badge to support Cedric?"

"Might as well," Ness sighed, "I'm trying to get everyone focused on surviving during the games."

"Hopefully they won't have any poisonous pits you have to watch out for." Luna yawned before she left, the purple glow that had been battling the snake green fading away.

 _"Cool."_ Ness thought as Selvis left as well, causing the stone to dim and the runes to fade away.

His dreams were unsurprisingly plagued with nightmares of the public discovering his PSI powers, Peter Petigrew somehow reviving Voldemort which Ness was wondering if that was even possible, he quickly thought "Probably." when he remembered the other crazy things happening in the wizarding world.

When morning rolled around Ness was once again greeted with proud grins from his housemates and with looks of sympathy from Ginny and Hermione as they accompanied him and Harry to breakfast. He was about to say wasn't necessary since he and Harry could fend off the people who wanted to know how they did it until he spotted the collective glares coming from the Hufflepuffs. The kindest house he knew in the entire bloody school.

"Oh god, the badgers are going to kill us!" Ness exclaimed as they sat down. Ginny glanced up and agreed not even fazed by how angry the Hufflepuffs looked, "They aren't very pleased with you two stealing Cedric's spotlight."

"Well they should be mad at the Goblet, not us." Ness grumbled as the morning mail came in.

"It's not like they know we were set up." Harry wearily stated, "They just think we entered for laughs and became champions."

"Yaaaayy." Ness sarcastically grumbled as Ginny said, "Well, look on the bright side! At least no one's sent you hate mail yet."

"That's probably because they've started making fan clubs for Cedric." Ness said, pointing toward Selvis who proudly walked to the Slytherin table with his house mates with giant yellow and black badges that said, "Go Cedric! Boo Potter and Earthbound!"

"Is it bad that I want one?" Ness asked as Harry and Hermione glowered at Malfoy, the ringleader behind the new club before they turned back to him. "I want one to." Harry said, "But for Ron."

"Where is Ron?" Ginny questioned, frowning when she spotted her brother sitting by Dean and the twins.

"Probably off being a pigheaded idiot." Harry said, angrily stabbing a piece of eggs and shoving it into his mouth.

"…What did he say?" Ness asked, dreading the answer.

"He doesn't believe me when I told him that we didn't enter!" Harry replied, "Thinks I _want_ to be possibly murdered in a dangerous game!"

"He'll get over it." Ginny said, rolling her eyes in slight disgust, "He just needs to get over himself and open his eyes for once."

"Which probably won't happen until he actually sees us in danger." Ness grumbled.

"For now, let's just ignore him," Hermione offered, "At least until we can figure out a way to get you disqualified or something."

"Sounds like a plan-," Ness started when a quiet cough cut him off, prompting him turn around to see Alexander, nervously carrying a plate loaded with protein and toast, "Hello," Alexander softly said, "Is it all right if I sit here?"

"Sure Alexander!" Ness chirped making space for the lanky dark-haired boy as he sat down, looking sick, "How's your day so far?"

"Awful," Alexander managed, giving Ginny and Hermione wary looks, "I didn't realize how big a fanbase Krum had until I was attacked this morning on the way to the dining hall," he quickly added, "Verbally attacked! Not magically." When he saw the horrified looks on their face.

"Why did they do that?" Hermione asked, frowning as Alexander glumly answered, "Krum's famous, I'm a nobody who's threatening his fame or something dumb. I don't know, girls are weird—er, never mind."

"It' okay Alexander." Ginny gently offered, "In my opinion I consider men to be aliens."

"And I see Ginny as a worrisome mother hen," Ness joked, snickering as the red head glared at him, probably thinking of a comeback when the bell rang.

"Remember, the lake after the weighing." Ness reminded them as they went their separate ways for class, he only had until second period until the wand weighing and the interviews so he braced himself for the worst.

Not bothering to hide his bad mood as he was confronted with angry Hufflepuffs who gave him glares from the corner of their eyes and flat out ignored him when he got stuck dealing with a very lovable Huggle Plant that enjoyed strangling their victims with hugs and then the Slytherins and oddly enough some Ravenclaw kids who Ness had always thought to be neutral in terms of house dislike.

 _"I. Hate. Tournaments."_ Ness mentally declared as Selvis gleefully bumped (Shoved in his opinion.) into him and sent him a vicious look, daring him to say anything as his friends slowed down to watch.

They weren't expecting Ness to grin at them, ask for a badge or pay for it before he happily pinned it on his robe and heading for Divination. This lessened the glares a bit since now everyone was giving him baffled looks when the spotted the badge.

"You actually bought it?" Harry asked in disbelief as they followed Professor McGonagall to the empty entry hall where Adaliz, Flur, Victor, Alexander and Cedric were waiting, looking a little worried about missing class.

"Now, here's how it's going to work," Professor McGonagall started, "When your name is called you are to head upstairs and into the third classroom on the right to get your wand weighed, then you are to come back here for interviews. Understood?"

Everyone nodded and studied their wands, wondering how it was going to go. "Good, first up, Victor Krum." Victor nodded and headed upstairs before briefly returning mumbling, "That was shorter than I expected."

"Flur Decour," Flur grinned and went up as well, she took a bit longer but came back still smiling as Cedric was called, then Harry, Adaliz and Alexander, leaving Ness last as he headed upstairs. Dreading how he was going to talk his way out of why he was using a fake wand instead of a real one.

Maybe he could fake the magic? Wait, they would be weighing wands, not magic. And he couldn't control how much items weigh… Or could he? He made that ball float last year, but that was probably because he had willed it to happen and went outside his comfort zone of PSI abilities.

With a sigh, he opened the door and stepped inside, a bit confused to see the wand store owner from Diagon Alley—wait a sec,

"Mr. Ollivander?" Ness questioned, a wave of relief crashing or him as he recognized the man, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to weigh the wands of course," Mr. Ollivander explained, "I am the best, and probably only wand maker closest to Hogwarts after all."

"Huh… Never knew that before." Ness admitted as he offered the man his wand and frowned as it was quickly given back to him, "Forgot I gave you a fake wand." He admitted with a chuckle, "I'll just have to make something up then."

"Are you sure?" Ness asked, "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with the authorities for lying about my toy wand."

"Don't worry about it my boy, this isn't the first time I had to make something up." Ollivander assured him with a small smile, "Some wizards were born with the natural ability to cast spells with their hands and couldn't connect with a wand. Forcing us wand makers to give them fake wands so they wouldn't get expelled from school."

"Some wizards don't use wands?" Ness questioned, wondering if those 'wizards' were actually PSI users who didn't realize that they were using Psi and not magi.

"No, but it was very rare." Ollivander explained, "In fact… I think Belinda Thimble was one of the few who used a fake wand."

Ness's heart skipped a beat as Ollivander gravely shook his head before he caught himself and forced a smile, "Well, off you go, I have to give the organizers of the Cup the information."

"R-right," Ness stammered quickly leaving and joining his fellow champions.

"The interviews will be taken outside in private tents." Professor McGonagall explained, "And we'll have a group picture in the Qudditch Field. Any questions?"

They shook their heads no, everyone focused on not making a fool of themselves.

"Good, follow me." True to her word, there were tents, three of them to be exact in each champion's school colors and standing outside was an eager reporter, a teacher and a photographer.

 _"Probably to make sure the reporters don't take advantage of us."_ Ness thought as he, Harry, Adaliz and Alexander were forced to wait outside for their turn. Making it a bit nerve wracking and infuriating as they were once again reminded that they weren't supposed to be here, something they fully agreed with.

"Hey Harry," Ness started, tossing his Messenger Stone in the air, "How much trash talk do you think I can get away with before a teacher stops me?"

"A lot," Harry guessed, "Hermione told me to be careful, the Daily Prophet is infamous for allowing their readers to forge their own conclusions in the wrong way."

"Of course the most renowned newspaper in the wizarding word is like a celebrity drag magazine." Ness said with an eye roll, "Because we can't possibly have anything good going for us."

"I'm starting to think we're cursed." Harry admitted.

"That would answer so many questions." Ness replied, his thoughts wandering back to Belinda who was mistaken as a wizard alongside a couple other. So, magic was officially confused with PSI, or the Ministry of Magic didn't realize that PSI was in its own category.

Made sense considering how many times Ness had thought he found something extremely different about PSI only to discover a magic counterpart that had been set in stone for ages, Belinda had only been confirmed a PSI user because of her freak out during her fourth year.

Four years of accidentally being treated like a wizard without realizing she wasn't. Four years of mimicking spells and performing them without making anyone suspicious. Four years of possibly not even knowing if she was a PSI user, and not a wizard. _"I'm starting to wonder if the only difference between Magic and PSI is the person using it."_ Ness glumly thought.

"Ah! Harry Potter!" he and Harry glanced up and jumped at a woman with blonde hair, green eyes and wearing a crocodile robe. He didn't like this woman, or her weird fashion taste at all.

"I'm Rita Skeeter, you're interviewer for the day." She explained, not noticing how Ness stiffened and shot her a glare. "I'm sorry, but I think we're supposed to be interview by a Mr. Goldmen," Harry replied, getting the same vibe as Ness. He glanced around, looking for a teacher but the ones who had been ensuring that no one snuck over and attempted to prank the private interviews were mysteriously gone.

"Are you going to be covering the tournament like the others?" Ness asked, trying to get her focus away from Harry, or more importantly, his lightning bolt scar. She barely spared him a glance as she swiftly answered, "Yes, I'll be the Daily Prophet's represented." And even faster said, "Now come on Harry! Let's go find a nice quiet spot for an interview!"

Her hand somehow wormed its way into Harry's and dragging him away to a secluded location, one without teachers or the fear of being interrupted.

Shell-shocked, Harry looked up at her in disbelief as Ness blinked in surprise and face palmed as he realized they were getting away. "Smooth going Ness," he grumbled as he tried to activate the magic on the Stone to contact someone for help, or maybe a distraction. That plan was quickly shut down are there was a faint pop before the stone burned in his palm, forcing him to stop and go to a hastily made plan B.

 _"Selvis?"_ Ness asked, reaching out with is telepathy as he looked around the empty grounds, paling when he spotted a flicker of black cloth disappear into the shadows toward the Qudditch locker rooms.

 _"Huh?"_

 _"Selvis, it's me! Ness!"_

 _"What the—why are you in my head?!"_

 _"I needed to talk to you and-,"_

 _"Then use the stone! That's why I made it!"_

 _"I can't activate it, it just burns my hand when I try."_

 _"Oh of course, just lovely. Fine, hold on."_

Ness waited as the stone flared to life and Selvis's irritated voice came through with an annoyed huff, _"What? Did you ruin your interview or something and wanted to complain?"_ Selvis asked as Ness broke into a run, trying to keep an eye on Harry's black robes as they were swallowed up by the darkness, "Actually, I'm trying to stop one from happening," Ness answered as Ginny jumped on, asking, _"What do you mean?"_

"Rita Skeeter ring a bell? Since she just kidnapped Harry for an interview."

 _"What?!"_ Ginny exclaimed while Selvis snorted, _"Sounds like her, just keep her in a public place with a bunch of people before she's able to whip out that dreaded quill of hers."_

"Explanation?" Ness questioned as he turned into the Gryffindor Qudditch section, studying the empty locker room.

 _"Apparently, she has this quill which writes down everything 'you' say."_ Ginny explained, _"But it just twists your words and makes your statement a reporter's goldmine."_

"So, evil monster pen then," Ness deadpanned as he tried to find a broom closet, hoping they were there. They were, thank the gods and Rita looked extremely surprised while Harry shot him a grateful look.

"Mr. Goldmen wants you Harry!" Ness quickly chirped as he performed _Rockin' Omega_ on the green ugly quill that had stiffened mid-sentence. It fizzled and promptly caught on fire, thankfully burning a hole in the parchment as Harry nodded his thanks and scurried away.

"Rude," Rita clicked as she pocketed the now ruined statement in an alligator clutch and stood up.

"I'd beg to differ." Ness replied as he let the door close on her face before she could move to leave and rejoined Harry, "She didn't get anything out of you, right?" Ness asked as he heard faint breathing coming from the Messenger Stone.

"Hopefully no," Harry sighed, "I was too busy looking at her in disbelief to really say anything." He frowned and looked around, "Is… someone laughing?"

Ness resisted a look toward his inside pocket which was slowly burning a hole against his leg and lied, "I think it's just one of the other champions."

Harry's frown didn't let up but he nodded in agreement, sitting down on the grass and looking toward the sky, "So, what's your plan to survive the tournament?"

"Just practicing spells, we might need and keeping an eye out for each other," Ness said with a shrug, "I mean, even though we're at a huge disadvantage, with Adaliz and Alexander being from different schools we might learn a new spell we could use or keep our ears peeled for any hints of the first round."

"I doubt anyone's going to be dropping us hints." Harry pointed out, earning a look of disbelief from Ness, "Dude, I come from America, where people will get into fights over which team won what during the Super Bowl, Madame Maxine and Kakaroff will no doubt do _everything_ in their power to help their champions, especially since now Hogwarts has three of them."

Harry frowned but slowly nodded in agreement, remembering how the Headmasters hadn't really objected to the idea once they had an extra member on their team, "True, but what if it's something not magic related?"

"That's where I come in," Ness answered, "I'm terrible at magic, but I used to play on a baseball team and-," he abruptly stopped and looked around, his danger sense tingling as something snuck up behind him.

"Something wrong?" Harry asked, looking around as well as a teacher finally appeared, grumbling something about a false alarm in the third-floor bathroom.

"Nah, I'm just paranoid." Ness lied, forcing a smile as the danger sense didn't go away. Something was here, and yet he couldn't see it. Was it Peter Petigrew? Hiding in the grass somewhere? Or something else? A small dangerous monster lurking to attack them?

"Hey! That cloud looks like a pumpkin!" Ness said, quickly ending their previous conversation as Cedric left his tent, looking a little irritated as Mr. Goldmen bid him good bye and called Harry up next.

"How was it?" Ness asked as Cedric headed for the Qudditch field to prepare for the group picture, "Tiring," he answered, sending Ness a tired smile over his shoulder, "Be careful, they won't hesitate to hold back, even with Professor Sprout glaring daggers at them."

"Nice to know!" Ness chirped as he leaned back and examined the clouds. "Huh… one of them actually _does_ look like a pumpkin." He remarked as he frowned at his blatant lie come to life.

* * *

 **I hadn't realized this when I was reading the book, but why didn't Dumbledore or better yet Professor McGonagall since I am thoroughly convinced that Dumbledore is a mastermind pushing Harry toward his prophecy, and just kick Harry out of the tournament via rule book? Or, just use basic sports logic and _kick_ him from the tournament so the champions would be an even number! I'm starting to notice that wizards _love_ creating problems for themselves which often have an easy solution or could have been prevented from the very beginning. (At least in book 4's case. Book 1-3 don't really count since all the problems that were brought up were caused by an outside force no one could really pinpoint.) **


	17. Chapter 17, Thy Enemy Is Newspaper

He wasn't sure what was worse, the newspaper or the looks he was getting at the breakfast table. Half a month had gone by since the interview and the first official meeting of UC, Uninvited Champions met to trade tips and tricks before they were stuck winging it for themselves, they had met up a couple more times that month, Alexander to try and practice basic combat magic, something Harry was happy to help with and Adaliz so she could buy a support Cedric Diggery badge without being teased by her housemates.

"We don't have a lot of boys at our school." Adaliz had admitted when she asked Ness through Ginny with a sheepish blush, "And a couple of my friends think that Malfoy kid's cute."

Ginny had choked on her drink while Ness simply said, "He's something alright," and left it at that, getting Adaliz's badge from Selvis who burst out laughing at Malfoy being called cute, "He's going to hate that!" Selvis had snickered before he left their club room for Boundless one night.

 _"I. hate the news."_ Ness thought as he grimly reread the champion's statements, sure, everyone had a fair blurb of their interview in the paper stating what they liked and disliked, their plans for what to do if they won the tournament and what inspired them to enter. But below Ness and Harry's blurb was a 'Flip to page 27 for juicy news!' which was causing his stomach to perform flip-flops.

"That no good-," Hermione exclaimed, clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle a curse as she did as the newspaper instructed and scanned the gossip.

"Well, prepare for a lot more hate." Ginny grimly said as Ness turned the page and felt his stomach drop into the earth's core.

 _With the Tri Wizard Tournament on the rise a lot of people have to wonder, why seven champions? And why are four of the seven so young? Well, Rita Skeeter found out one of the reasons how seven champions came to be after overhearing Harry and Ness talk about meeting up with the younger champions and creating a support group to ensure that they would win first prize, suggesting that the four students had somehow found a way around the age barrier to enter the tournament._

 _Now the question is, who created this brilliant scheme? The Boy who lived? or the black eyed American formerly known as a Sunday morning comic?_

"We were alone. Outside a tent. Whispering." Ness deadpanned, suddenly feeling self-aware of how many people were looking at him, "And we ditched her at the Qudditch Locker room!"

"Apparently, she found a way." Harry darkly muttered, sneaking a look at Ron who was shooting them both furious glares, "And convinced the entire school."

"Ignore them." Ginny ordered, looking extremely annoyed, "They don't understand anything."

"True, but just in case, I think we should be very careful about what we talk about." Ness advised, "If Rita has the same cloak Harry does, she could be lurking around this very minute."

Harry looked over his shoulder while Hermione grumbled something about people being unable to keep their nose out of other people's business.

Breakfast ended on a sour note as someone actually threw a biscuit at Ness and Harry (A Hufflepuff no doubt since Slytherin's table was too far away to properly hit the back of their heads.) as they got up to head for class, a couple students even tried to trip Ness hissing 'American werdio,' and 'Comic-book cheater' as they walked pass.

Ness was tempted to say, 'Thanks for that lovely insult!" and follow it up with a sarcasm one but after noticing how quiet Ginny was he kept his mouth shut. This probably wasn't any better for her since was one of his closest friends and now probably outcasted by Ron (Who was going to get a _Rockin_ headache from Ness the next time they met.)

"Talk about it during lunch break?" Ness whispered as they entered the Charms classroom, Ginny nodded and sat beside him, not wanting to push her luck with trying to sit with someone else.

Classes seemed to go on forever, and the various glares he got from almost every house (Even Ravenclaw as mad at him!) didn't help lighten his mood, or any of his other friends who were just as annoyed with the unwanted attention and newspaper story as he was.

"I'm going to kill that woman!" Selvis snarled as he paced back in forth in their club room, his arms behind his back and his feet knocking away any dust bunnies and bug they encountered.

"I wonder how she did it." Luna mused, but the dreamy veil over her voice was gone, replaced with blunt annoyance, "I mean, you didn't see anything, right Ness?"

"I sensed something and felt like I was about to be attacked but no, I didn't see anything." Ness replied, tossing his hat up and down and reliving stress by making it freeze in the air and then resume falling. He was actually pretty good at that when he wanted to be.

"Maybe her quill acts as a radio?" Ginny offered, starting on her Potions essay about Maroon Bulb mushrooms.

"No, she has some cloaking device." Selvis said, his voice laced with anger and irritation.

"Plus, I destroyed it with my powers," Ness said, "I wasn't going to let that demonic pen get away with slandering Harry!"

"Well, look how nicely that went." Selvis snarled.

causing Ness to frown and almost snap, "What are you upset about? You aren't being treated like a cheater."

"She stole my scoop!" Selvis hissed, spinning and angrily facing Ness, " _I'm_ the only one allowed to sneak around and listen in on secrets! Not that witch!"

"Also, she wrote a scathing review on his family's carpets a couple years ago." Luna yawned earning an annoyed look from Selvis, "Okay, that too. But still!" Selvis protested as Ginny threw her hands up in disgust, "Let's just move on from this topic, it isn't like she's going to be back for a while."

"Yea, just until the first round." Ness glumly reminded them causing them to pause.

"Oh yea…" Luna mumbled as Selvis asked, "Did they give you a clue? Anything to prepare yourself with?"

"No, and I don't think we're going to get one." Ness said, "Meaning we'll be forced to form a plan right off the bat." He glanced out the window and said, "And speaking of bat, I have to get Mom and Tracey to send me mine."

"What?! You're going to fight an unknown challenge with a baseball bat?!" Selvis demanded as Ginny exclaimed, "Ness! Just use your wand and fake magic!"

"And tire myself out? No way." Ness replied, "If I do get stuck in a fight, I'm going to fight using my brain _and_ body. And that means getting my baseball bat."

"Plus, Ness is terrible at magic," Luna reminded them, "He might blow something else up in the process of faking a stun spell."

"…True." Selvis agreed as Ginny sighed, "But a bat? Really?"

"Said bat helped me fend off a _bunch_ of monsters Ginny," Ness said with a teasing smirk, "I hit them right out the park and scored home runs on my journey!"

"Oh god, here comes the baseball jokes." Selvis groaned, before he stiffened and looked up, "Oh! Ness, be careful of Durmstrang's headmaster."

"Kakraroff or whatever his name is?" Ness questioned, frowning slightly, "Why? What did he do?"

"He used to be a _death eater._ " Selvis explained, "The very same group that attacked the Qudditch World Cup over the summer. He outed a lot of fellow Death Eaters, claiming that he was under You-Know-Who's control thanks to one of the unforgivable curses and a bunch of other lies to avoid getting killed."

"You don't think he set Ness and the others up, right?" Ginny asked nervously, remembering Kakraroff's treatment of his students.

Ness shook his head no, "He was genuinely upset to find four extra champions, if he wanted to aim for me and Harry to appease the new leader of the Death Eater's then maybe, but someone else put in Alexander and Adaliz's name, someone he didn't know about."

"So… We have two possible suspects now," Selvis theorized, "Mr. Crouch-,'

"He isn't due to arrive until the first match." Luna interrupted, "I think Peter did this."

"Maybe. But Peter's a coward. He would have hightailed it out of Hogwarts the moment he realized people knew about him." Ness reminded her.

"As I was saying," Selvis loudly announced, shooting them all glares as he continued, "We have Kakraroff and possibly, Peter Petigrew to worry about, especially since the Ministry isn't trying their hardest to find him."

"What?! Why not?" Ness asked, "We proved that he was beyond faking his death and murdering a bunch of mug—peoples as well as pinning the blame on Black!"

"Yes, but they have their _ego_ to worry about." Selvis explained with a roll of his eyes, "Plus, Black isn't exactly off the hook either since he's still on the run and not coming in for an interview."

"Can you blame the poor guy?" Ginny asked, "He isn't going to trust the Ministry after this whole mess!"

"True, but with the rumors dying down the Ministry have a lot of backlash in terms of support," Selvis pointed out, "No one likes to be wrong, especially not about something as big as that. Now people are wondering what else they probably got wrong."

They thought about that before Luna nodded in agreement, "That's probably why Rita included Ness in such vague terms, to try an win back support by possibly having Ness, an outsider make up the evidence to help his friend out."

"…I didn't even think about it." Ness admitted as Selvis's flushed an angry red and growled, "I am going to get this woman and end her!"

"And as usual, we can't do anything but keep our heads down until the storm blows over." Ginny sighed.

"Me especially," Selvis grumbled, "I overheard Malfoy boasting about his tight connections to Rita after bumping into her after the interviews ended, she's probably going to be the head journalist of The Daily Prophet for this tournament."

"I liked Mr. Goldmen." Ness sulked as the bell rang, forcing them to abandon their club room and sneak downstairs to class, careful not to be seen with each other to avoid more backlash from their classmates.

It took a week before something good popped up that wasn't a huge scandal, and it was in the form of Hagrid who had pulled Ness aside one day after Magical Creature Care whispering for him to talk to Harry before nightfall.

"Why?" Ness had asked only to get shooed along before Selvis and the other Slytherins' noticed. Selvis did, and sent him scathing glares, silently demanding to know what exactly had Hagrid had told him as Harry pulled him aside during lunch,

"Hang out in the common room after dinner, Hagrid sent me something." He mumbled, careful to make it seem like he was just quietly apologizing for bumping into Ness.

"Sure," Ness replied, forcing a smile of acceptance on his face as Harry moved to sit beside Hermione, shooting Ron his usual weary look at his friend happily chatted with Dean and some other Gryffindors.

"It'll take an iceberg to melt before Ron gets over himself." Ginny grumbled, "He actually asked me if I was in on the plan!"

"Did you hit him?"

"Nearly decked him with my history book." Ginny answered, looking a little sad that she hadn't, "Hermione stopped me before I could actually do it."

"And here I thought you were an adorable little cinnamon roll," Ness teased earning a glare as he ducked behind his sandwich with a laugh, "That's right, cower." Ginny huffed but she couldn't wipe away the smile on her face.

"Geez, did you take lessons from Paula on how to be scary?" Ness asked.

"If I had then I would have smacked Ron with a frying pan, not a book." Ginny pointed out, "By the way, how is Paula?"

"She's alright, hanging out with friends and bugging Tracey who keeps kidnapping her for sleepovers." Ness replied, before he frowned slightly, "Although, someone sent her, Jeff and Poo issues of the Daily Prophet for some reason."

Ginny nearly choked on her water and looked at Ness in surprise, "Really? Who?"

"Didn't come with an address," Ness replied, "Paula and Jeff said they just found it in their room with a note saying, 'beware of those in black robes' and the article talking about Harry and I planning everything was highlighted with a red pen."

"Do you think-," Ginny stopped herself and quietly mumbled, "Do you think our second-year suspect was behind this?" making sure to glance at the teacher's table where Mad Eye Moody was scanning the room, his eyes always lingering on him and Harry for some reason.

"I don't think so." Ness replied, "Year two suspect warned me about the threads of fate binding Harry and I together, why warn practically nobodies to his possible plan about looking out for other wizards?"

"Maybe… maybe You-Know-Who is back?" Ginny whispered, her eyes growing wide with fear, "And he knows about your secret?"

Ness shuddered at the thought and hoped it wasn't that. Even though the Wizarding World didn't seem to care about his comic book adventures, the information about his attacks and powers were still out there, on old issues of the Prophet and other newspaper. Easily allowing the enemy to see his strengths and weaknesses.

"Let's hope not." Ness replied as they stood up and headed for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Moody had gone overboard with classes and lessons, focusing on self-defense magic and practicing attack spells.

Thankfully, they hadn't done anything crazy like they had for their first class but the spells they were practicing were… a bit out there. Spells to bind people's hands and feet, powerful stun spells, jinxes to force to person to speak backwards and more.

Ness tried his best to fake what he was supposed to do but as usual but doubted he could keep up the charade for long once they moved into jinxes.

"I hate Professor Moody." Ness grumbled his head killing him as he reclined in an empty armchair as Ginny started on her homework, "He's going to be the death of me."

"Snape might have a rival then," Ginny said, grumbling slightly as she accidentally ruined an I, forcing her to start her essay on Boomslang skin all over again.

"Yea, double potions homework, both an essay about Moonslang and venomous archetypes." Ness groaned, "He hates us."

"I think you mean, Boomslang, Ness."

"I rename it Moonslang." Ness proclaimed, "And you cannot tell me otherwise, Carrot-Top."

"Annnd now you need to head to bed." Ginny said, rolling her eyes at her new name.

"Can't, Harry wanted to talk to me-," Ness started when something warm brushed against his hand, _Enemy approaching!_ He sat up, Rockin' Alpha on the tip of his tongue as he grabbed the warm object and looked up to see nothing.

"Ness! Relax! It's me, Harry!" a frantic voice hissed, the warm object—a hand Ness realized, fighting to stay under a piece of scratchy fabric.

"Harry?" Ness repeated, forcing his body to relax as he let go of Harry's hand and grabbed his school book to make it seem like he was mumbling notes. The Common wasn't exactly empty after all, students who were preparing to burn the night oil were relaxing on couches to study and trade notes were there, as well as the few who just wanted to play some chess and trade gossip.

"What are you doing? Why are you under the cloak?" Ness asked as he heard Harry shuffle his feet, "Hagrid, he wants to meet us by his house before eight. Has something important to show us."

"Important enough for me to hide under that cactus cloak?" Ness questioned, remembering how itchy he had felt from sneaking out with Harry to visit Hogsmeade.

"Yes, now come, the hallways are empty and Flich is two floors above us."

"Got the map out as well, interesting." Ness muttered before he stood up and pretended to yawn, "I'll meet you outside, by the hallway entrance near the Fat Lady's portrait."

"Wait, how are you going to-," Harry started to ask when Ness abruptly said, "See you there." And headed up for bed, sprinting at the last second and picturing himself in the hallway outside the Gryffindor entrance.

"He's never going to believe I'm a PSI user." Ness sighed as he ducked into the shadows, waiting for the Fat Lady's dozing portrait to move aside to signal that Harry was outside.

It took a couple moments but it slowly slid open and closed with a small snap.

"How did you?" Harry asked as Ness joined him under the cloak, "Special powers." Ness deadpanned, "Now come on, I _really_ don't want to be here any longer than I need to."

Harry nodded and slowly lead him down the stairs, occasionally looking down at the Marauder's Map now and again to ensure that no one was coming around the corner as they slipped into the entrance hall without making a sound.

"I wonder what Hagrid has to tell us." Ness whispered as they walked on the castle grounds.

"He said it was urgent, and very important in his letter." Harry explained, "But he didn't say-," he abruptly stopped and looked into the darkness of the trees his eyes widening in disbelief.

"What? What is it?" Ness said, feeling on edge as Harry slowly said, "I think… I saw a plume of fire go up in the sky. It was faint but…"

"Great. We're fighting fire breathing monsters." Ness groaned as Harry started to move, picking up the pace and forcing Ness to break into a light jog to keep up with the older boy.

"Hagrid! It's us!" Harry whispered, knocking on the door and cringing as Fang broke into loud barks.

"Harry? Ness?" Hagrid gruffly asked, his eyes squinting into the darkness as he opened the door a bit, "No, we're two aliens from outer space trying to invade the school." Ness joked.

"Yes, it's us." Harry said, nudging Ness with his foot as Hagrid let them inside. For some reason, Hagrid was wearing an ugly bow tie and was attempting to comb his unruly hair and beard with little success, "Ohh, someone's going on a date," Ness teased, muffling a laugh as the giant man blushed in embarrassment.

"Really? Who's the lucky girl?" Harry asked, lowering the cloak slightly so Hagrid could see the smile on Harry's face.

"Madam Maxine," Hagrid proudly answered, "I'm taking her to see something wonderful."

"Unicorns?" Harry guessed while Ness joked, "Fire breathing dragons." His stomach dropped as Hagrid jerked back in surprise, "You know? Did Charlie tell you?"

"I was joking." Ness weakly said while Harry asked, "Why is Charlie here with dragons?"

"For the-," Hagrid started, sounding a little worried when someone knocked on the door, Harry quickly dove back under the cloak and lead Ness over to the back door as Hagrid ran his toothless comb through his hair and opened it with a broad grin, "Madam Maxine!" he boomed, his nervousness and excitement coming through full blast as he happily shook the woman's hand who was only a foot shorter than Hagrid, "Lovely as usual." Hagrid praised, not noticing how the small giant woman lead him out of his house.

"Why thank you Hagrid," Madam Maxine said, blushing slightly as Ness caught a glimpse of a dark navy-blue dress that was as dark as the night sky.

 _"Something's up."_ Ness thought as he realized that Madam Maxine was practically shrouded in the darkness, the only bright colors being her pale skin and gaudy makeup along with her jewelry.

"We are totally following them." Ness whispered as Harry watched the door close and nodded in agreement.

"I don't trust Madam Maxine," Harry whispered as they took the back door and walked behind Hagrid who was nervously talking about Madam Maxine's beauty and the forest scenery which was shrouded in darkness.

"We're getting close-," Ness started, noticing how the shadows became bigger as they approached a caravan of light when a sudden roar interrupted him.

"Ah! What was that?" Madam Maxine asked, actually jumping closer to Hagrid as he broke into a grin, "Dragons." He breathlessly said, picking up the pace and entering the caravan.

"Wizards are insane." Ness declared as he and Harry quietly chased after Hagrid only to lose him in the crowd of dragon tamers walking around, soothing irritated dragons.

"I don't like the looks of that one." Harry noted, pointing toward a dragon curled around a giant egg, a giant spike incrusted tail angrily swishing around as it glowered at its neighbor who was brightly colored compared to the dragon they were looking at. The spike tail dragon was a stone grey while its neighbor was a light emerald green.

Ness was about to whisper that it was pretty when acid dripped out of its mouth, sizzling on the metal floor as its tail slowly tapped the walls.

"Insane is too nice a term." Ness decided as he and Harry quickly ducked behind the spikey tail dragon's cage to avoid a distracted tamer. "Seven dragons in all." Harry counted, "It's for all of us."

"And so far, I don't want to meet any of them." Ness muttered as they slowly circled the metal cages, studying the dragons which seemed to become more dangerous as they completed a full circle. Ness especially disliked a medium toxic purple dragon that was blowing bubbles of slimy purple liquid out of its mouth with ease. It's bright green eyes angrily studying its companions while its slime covered tail and claws tapped the cage, in an almost annoyed fashion.

"Can you… can you talk to them?" Harry asked, ducking into the shadows as the toxic purple dragon spat out a large amount of slime and anger, snarling as it merely bounced off a shield and landed at its feet.

" _We_ can talk to them," Ness corrected, "Just hold my hand and I'll see what I can do."

Harry nodded and did as told, flinching as a bombardment of gruff female voices suddenly erupted in their heads.

"Bad idea." Ness grumbled, suppressing a groan as he tried to tune into one dragon, which felt like walking into an active volcano considering how angry all the dragonesses were, their minds abuzz of fiery thoughts and anger that prevent him from focusing on just one.

 _"Hey! Sorry if this is rude, but could you please calm down?"_ Ness asked, face palming as all the dragons visibly stiffened and lowered into wary attack stances.

 _"Who are you?"_ a gravelly voice asked, _"And why can't I see you mortal?"_

 _"We're hiding under an invisibly cloak, near the angry toxic dragon."_ Ness explained, tightening his grip on Harry's hand and forcing the boy to sit down as he felt the hot cloak flutter slightly.

 _"I'm a New England Mist Bane Dragon boy."_ The dragon snarled, _"Do you know nothing about dragons?"_

 _"Nope, other than the fact that I should stay, far, far away from you guys."_ Ness chirpily answered.

 _"He'ssss an idiot."_ One dragon, probably the sliver blue snake dragon judging by the lisp decided.

 _"We've noticed Sepri,"_ some dragon rumbled.

 _"Sepri? Nice name. Are you the snake dragon?"_ Ness asked, flinching at the cold heat exploding in his mind.

 _"I'll have you know that I'm a River Frossssst Dragon from the sssshoresss of China!"_ Sepri snapped.

 _"Frost? Up in china?"_ Ness questioned earning a growl of annoyance from Sepri, _"I lived up in the mountain rivers until these… humans."_ She practically spat the word, _"Caught me slithering into the lower regions to lay my eggs."_

 _"My babies are going to grow up in a cage."_ An acid voice bemoaned, _"How awful!"_

 _"Don't remind us Asid,"_ A weary voice snarled, probably the leader considering how all the other dragons muttering quickly stopped. _"That fact is set in stone."_

 _"Leader of the pack?_ Ness questioned.

 _"More or less."_ The leader snarled, _"You may call me Tira, I am a Volcanic Curved Wing dragon from the Tabernas desert."_

 _"Nice to meet you Tira! I'm Ness Earthbound, the human."_ Ness replied, resisting the urge to bow, _"And this is my friend, Harry Potter, say hi Harry!"_

Harry weakly stammered, _"Ello,"_ before he fell silently, cringing as all the dragons exploded with disgust and oddly enough, surprise, _"So, the boy who lived and a nobody come to visit us?! Why?!"_ the gruff dragon demanded earning a snap of, _"Shut up Earthia!"_ from Tira.

 _"A friend invited us, you see, I think you guys were captured for the Tri-Wizard tournament."_ Ness explained, _"Harry and I are one of the seven champions who have to do something to enter the next trial."_

 _"Tournament!? We're for sport?!"_ Asid bellowed, spewing white hot acid out in a foamy rage as some of the other dragons snorted flames, poison, ice and banged their spike covered tails in anger.

 _"And during our nesting process as well!"_ Earthia, probably the sturdy looking forest green dragon who was angrily flapping her small wings, her small size and lean back legs suggesting that she was an active ground hunter. _"Have they no shame!?"_

 _"Apparently not."_ The New England Mist Bane snarled, _"Considering how they so nicely invaded my family's cave to capture me."_

 _"I should have done more than bite off someone's arm."_ The spiked tail dragon grumbled.

 _"It's not like you knew what they were plotting Sparik,"_ Asid grumbled, _"After all, we were preoccupied with our eggs when they invaded."_

 _"Or bussssy moving them to a sssssafer part of the river."_ Sepri grumbled, her body angrily circling her clutch and spraying confused tamers with blast of ice when they tried to stun her.

 _"Or going out hunting."_ An almost timid voice said, a loud shuffle of movement coming from beside him and Harry as they caught a glimpse of a midnight tail dotted with starry blue splotches on the end, _"I should rain sleep upon these fools."_ She finished.

 _"Good luck with that Midnight,"_ Sparik snorted, giving Ness the impression that she too was a mist dragon considering the soft velvet blue mist seeping out the sides of her cage, prompting Ness and Harry to move on the other side of the New England Mist Bane's cage.

 _"They keep putting us under sleep spells to keep us quiet."_

 _"I'll show them quiet."_ A sleepy voice grumbled, earning yelps of, _"Don't do it you Mimic!"_ as the owner of the voice let loose a female screech of fear and anger, causing everyone to duck their heads and clap their hands over their ears as the rest of the dragons roared in anger right back.

 _"We're right here! Save the noise work for later!"_ Tira ordered.

 _"Please, I can barely handle you guys talking at the moment."_ Harry begged, looking ready to faint.

 _"Wimp."_ Mimic huffed, her voice sounding like Harry's as Sepri hissed, _'He'sss a human actually able to undersssstand ussss! Don't make them go deaf you moronic Sssshe-devil!"_

 _"Look who's talking snake breath."_

 _"You little-,"_ Sepri snarled when Tira angrily banged her cage, roaring, _"Silence! I wish to know more about this 'tournament' we're in."_

 _"Wish we could help, but we've been kept in the dark."_ Ness grimly replied, _"We just discovered that we're supposed to go up against you guys for some reason tonight. But we aren't sure what we're supposed to do."_

 _"Oh goodie, so we're just going to have to wait on the edge of our hides."_ The New England Mist Bane grumbled, her voice oozing toxic anger as her inmates grumpily agreed.

 _"Well, good luck with your eggs."_ Ness said, nudging Harry who nodded and added, _"It was nice meeting all of you."_

 _"Hold on,"_ Tira interrupted, causing them to pause in their attempt to sneak away before the stun spells increased, _"How old are the champions?"_

 _"Well, four of us are between the ages of 13-14 and the last three are 17-18 years old."_ Ness answered, picking up the pace as Tira loudly snarled, _"We're fighting mere hatchlings?!"_

 _"The nerve! Did they run out of formidable warriors?!"_ Asid demanded as Sepri huffed, _"Great! I wassss kidnapped for almosssst no reasssson!"_

"Yea… we should go." Ness whispered, cutting off his telepathy and following Harry who led him into the woods to avoid the frantic dragon tamers to were desperately trying to either calm or stun the dragonesses into submission.

"Well… at least we know what to sort of expect." Harry muttered, keeping his eyes peeled for something as they inched toward the edge of the forest, "Barely though." Ness commented.

"True, but-," Harry faltered and frowned down at the map, "Kakaroff is here."

"Oh goodie, so everyone knows about the dragons now." Ness said, rolling his eyes and looking up toward the sky from under his cloak, "Not everyone, Cedric." Harry reminded him, "Hagrid only told us since we're the underdogs at the moment."

"Really? Even with our news story?"

"I doubt Hagrid could care less about what the news says," Harry replied, "He was expelled from school thanks to a student framing him for the Chamber of Secrets incident years ago, he probably prefers to hear both sides of the story before he makes his final decision."

"Smart man." Ness commented, "So, you going to tell Cedric? I barely see the dude thanks to my class structure."

"It's only fair." Harry firmly stated, "Adaliz and Alexander are probably going to be informed of this as well since Madam Maxine and Kakraroff want their schools to win, so it's only fair if all of us know."

"True." Ness agreed as they started to walk back to the castle. They were nearly there when Ness asked, "Do you think Peter put our names in the goblet?"

"No," Harry quickly answered, "I ask Sirus—Snuffles, about it when we first found out and he said that it would take a powerful charm to fool the Goblet, something Peter wouldn't be able to do since he failed most of his classes, relying on Lupin's tutoring to help him pass." Harry glanced at Ness from the corner of his eye and asked, "Why do you ask?"

"Ginny and Luna were throwing around possible suspects about who could have done it since the why is sort of out there," Ness explained, sharing Harry's grimace as the boy remembered the target on his back, "Peter came up since the news hasn't given us any leads as to where he was and because he could sneak back into the castle. But now that you pointed that out, it's just Kakraroff and Barty Crouch."

"Mr. Crouch? And Kakraroff?" Harry questioned, dropping his voice to a whisper as they entered the castle, "Why them?"

"According to a friend, Mr. Crouch was involved in some huge scandal, one that took a lot of effort to keep quiet about, something involved with Death Eaters no doubt considering how he fired his house elf with ease when it was possible that she did it. And Kakraroff was once a Death Eater, who sold out a lot of his buddies so he wouldn't die."

"He thinks they probably entered us?" Harry questioned, "Kakraroff maybe, but Mr. Crouch?"

"Yea, it's a stretch but, he was the one foaming at the mouth and eager to pin the blame on us despite saying that we all heard a male voice cast the spell." Ness reminded him, "Plus, he's supposed to be one of the judges, right? He would have access to the castle and the tournament, and no one would question him given his authority."

Harry nodded in agreement as they jumped over a trick step and said, "Can you get Ginny to write a letter to Percy? Asking about Crouch's whereabouts?"

"I'll try, but I think she's considering strangling Ron and Percy at this point, especially since Percy's coming with Crouch as his assistant."

Harry shook his head in disbelief as they finally reached the Fat Lady painting, "Well, let's hope that she doesn't since she and Ron are the closest source of getting Ministry information,"

 _"And apparently, Selvis."_ Ness thought, realizing that Selvis seemed to know every shady bit of the Ministry's history despite being from a magic carpet business.

"True, so, any plans on dealing with dragons?"

"I'm thinking of figuring out a way to get extra mobile support." Harry admitted, "I doubt the stun spells I know at the moment are going to help, but if I could fly that would help me out. How about you?"

"I'm bringing my baseball bat and hoping that I can talk which ever dragon I get down." Ness replied with a grin at Harry's look of disbelief, "Don't worry, I'm good with a bat." He assured him as the painting swung open and they entered, heading up to bed to get ready for the weekend with quiet good nights.

Ness climbed into bed, quickly writing down a to do list of writing his mother a letter to ask for one of his bats and informing Paula of the challenge, he would have added Jeff but he didn't want to get another letter writing how it was scientifically impossible for the magic object of the week to exist.

"Yea… I am not reading another four-page letter on mumbo jumbo." Ness said with a yawn, rolling onto his side and falling asleep.

* * *

 **In case anyone forgot (I know I did.) the Second Year Suspect Ginny and Ness were whispering about was Dumbledore.**

 **Also really late thank you but- Thank you Someone! :D It makes me happy to know that people are waiting for my story! Now if only I could remember to update daily without getting distracted by another project. ^_^;**


	18. Chapter 18, A Dilemma

Breath, he told himself as Peter Petigrew steadied his trembling hands, forcing himself to look at an old issue of the Daily Prophet. One that had his master's target on the front cover with a sheepish smile and the boy with cold black eyes, Ness Earthbound grinning up at him, his picture making a series of goofy poses as he irritated the camera man.

"Psi." he spoke aloud, gulping as he turned around to face the slimy remains of his Master, "He's a PSI user, and a skilled one at that considering his adventures in America."

 _"And yet he's here… in Europe."_ The remains rasped, the rocking chair shifting slightly as it moved, _"For no other reason than to be here."_

"So, it seems, when I was observing him he appeared to be solving his own problem with the help of Ron's sister, Ginny Weasly and a couple others he didn't mention."

 _"And what was this problem?"_

"I'm… not sure, he was careful to keep it discussed in private courtiers, probably because they involved his powers."

 _"Which are…?"_

Peter hesitate for a moment as he remembered the magic ripple he had felt attack Snape, his rat eyes catching the faint outline of sound waves in the form of open circles knocking Snape into the ground as Ness looked at him with a poor look of surprise on his face. Then there was the Dementor's battle, he was glad that he ducked behind a bush, peering through the giant leaves as he watched bright flames exploded and engulf the monsters, slowly growing weaker as he and Harry lost the strength to fight before a magic ripple knocked them both out, seemingly caused by Ness.

"I believe he's powerful." Peter slowly began, "He managed to use his powers without conveying words until he was fighting off a horde of Dementors, there he kept whispering Fire Alpha under his breath until they passed out."

 _"Alpha? Not Omega?"_

"Not that I can tell, he was quiet when he was attacking." Peter admitted.

 _"I see… And at the World Cup?"_

"No one heard anything when the fire started, but three Death Eaters chased after a boy wearing a red cap and two girls, one of the girls was wielding a frying pan and had short blonde hair."

 _"And did this girl, do anything strange?"_

"She summoned powder snow and froze one of them in place while the boy took care of them with his baseball bat, the third girl was hiding the entire time."

 _"Two, Psi users then."_

"Yes, but the girl isn't a Hogwarts student, I think she was just attending the cup with Ness."

 _"One then."_ The thing murmured, sounding a little relived. This surprised Peter slightly considering how powerful his Master was, coming back from the dead was an impossible feat, and yet here he was. A hollow shell of his former shell but here none the less.

"Ness is in the tournament however," Peter added, cringing at the unsure tone in his voice, "Along with a couple others our mole has entered to try and seem discreet with his plan but the first challenge has yet to start."

 _"We wait."_

"E-excuse me?"

 _"Contact the mole, inform him to stay low at all costs and avoid Ness as much as possible, with the boy in the news it'll only be a matter of time before other forces come along as well."_

"Other…forces? I'm sorry my lord, but I do not understand." Peter wrung his hands and pressed for information, "W-wouldn't it be easier to take the boy out now instead of later?"

 _"No… He'll self-destruct on his own, slowly but surely. After all, PSI and Magic don't mix well, the more he forces his mind to mimic magic to stay hidden, the more his physic outbursts will become until someone notices."_

"And the other forces?"

 _"They'll probably begin showing up, slowly but surely in order to rescue the boy before he harms anyone."_ His master explained, _"We can use that to our advantage, the last time they entered Europe they had a mini war with the Ministry of Magic trying to rescue Belinda."_

"I see, I'll start my journey to Hogwarts in the morning." Peter said, giving a short bow as a knot of dread settled in his stomach as he realized who 'they' were.

"Please don't come until after the tournament." Peter begged as he climbed down a flight of rickety stairs and headed for his tiny room full of magical equipment and a couple annoyed owls shooting daggers in the back of his head.

But knowing them, they would come, slowly but surely and integrate themselves into the world of magic until their mission was completed.

* * *

Jeff, was a god. Ness decided, grinning ear to ear as he opened his care package in the safety of the Boundless club room and pulled out a sleek metallic doorknob that expanded into a metal bat when he shook it.

"And here's my weapon," Ness said, proudly showing it off to Selvis and Ginny who were looking at in disbelief as Luna rummaged through his care package, pulling out extra clothes, baked goods from Paula, a knock-knock book from Tracey who said it was so Ness could make better jokes, a stick from King which was probably to give him good luck and a bunch of electronic knickknacks that were probably to help Ness but shorted out on the way here.

"Jeff invented that?" Selvis asked, watching as Ness swung the bat a couple times before he miniaturized it with a simple push of a button, "Yup! He can invent a bunch of things when he puts his mind to it." Ness explained, "This will make it a lot easier for me to bring a bat into an arena!"

"Yea, if they don't take the door knob away from you." Selvis pointed out.

"He has a point," Ginny said, "You're only supposed to bring your wands, and you can't perform Accio like Harry's trying to."

"…Oh yea." Ness slumped and sighed, "Back to the drawing board." As Luna pulled out a letter and placed it on the ground, "Maybe you could fake an accio?" Luna suggested, "Like, you leave the doorknob-,"

"Baseball bat." Ness corrected.

"Baseball bat on your bedside table and just summon it into your hand."

"Oh! Like how you sent those people home without touching them!" Ginny realized, "You could do that!"

"Yea, but I don't even know what I _did_ in the first place." Ness pointed out, "I was freaking out and just wanted them to go home."

"So, focus on that, but instead, you bring the object to you." Luna offered, "Backwards thinking."

"I'll try," Ness said since they didn't have anything else to do at the moment and had a couple more minutes to burn before their next period of classes.

"If it helps, try making up a magic word." Ginny offered as Ness placed his bat on the desk and walked toward the back of the room, "Nah, speaking aloud messes me up," Ness replied as he held his hand up, palm up and focused, "Especially since I don't have a mental tell to help me out."

"A mental tell?"

"Yea, it's sort of like a video game's going through my head, I can see how much certain attacks that involve PSI will tire me out and have them organized in a list." Ness explained, "Making it easier for me to say something off the top of my head since everything I learn just shows up."

"Is that why you can make objects float so easily now?" Ginny asked.

"No, I have to put a lot of thought into making things stop and fall." Ness replied as he pictured the bat flying into his hand. It didn't budge, prompting him to try willing it to him and visualizing the bat slowly inching off the table before flying through the air.

Nothing. And for all his hard work he was rewarded with a migraine, "Okay, maybe using a magic word will be easier." Ness grumbled, feeling winded from the effort (Weird. He never felt physically tired from trying out a new attack, just mentally sore.) as his friends studied the doorknob and confirmed his suspicions.

"We should look up the magical properties of Accio as well," Selvis said, "If you know how the original spell works then maybe you can create your prototype."

"Maybe…" Ness agreed as he glanced out the window. The first challenge was a mere week away and time was slipping away. All the challengers were holing up in empty classrooms and quiet sections of the school grounds to practice their plan for the first round and he had barely got started on his plan.

So far, all he had was to simply talk it out with his dragon and if worse comes to worse, fight with a bat and win. He couldn't relay on his PSI skills, there would be to many people and he couldn't exactly fake magic without fainting. Every time he tried to will the bat to him in the form of Accio his daily migraines increased until he actually fainted. Earning a chalk white mustache from Selvis and waking up to the sound of muffled screaming as Ginny tried to return the favor for him.

"I'm doomed." Ness groaned one night, slowly packing up his things for Astronomy as Ginny headed inside without him, tired from practicing with Ness and chasing Selvis around.

"I wouldn't say so, Venus is shining brightly tonight, so you'll have good fortune later in the week."

Ness jumped as Professor Kale who had oddly been appearing less and less at the dining table for meals, was looking at the sky with a dreamy smile.

"Thanks, but I was talking about the first challenge." Ness said, a small smile appearing as Professor Kale glanced at him his starry sliver eyes twinkling with curiosity, "Everyone seems to be talking about it, who will come in first, what's the challenge, should we prepare for a funeral," Professor Kale managed a weak chuckle at his last comment but kept talking, "The theories go on and on."

"I wish they'd stop," Ness admitted, "It's bad enough I'm stressing myself out about my paper-thin plan."

"Paper thin? Come on, it can't be that bad."

"It is, and it relays on a whole lot of luck." Ness sighed, getting up to leave as he realized he was the last student here.

"What's it about?" Ness stumbled slightly in surprise and looked at Professor Kale, "I don't think I can tell you Teach," Ness said, biting his lip at the nickname, "I mean, we aren't allowed any real help from teachers."

"Maybe… But think of it as advice from a friend." Professor Kale said, shooting Ness a small smile, "Besides, I saw your grades, and I'm quite sure I know your secret."

"Which one? I have a lot of secrets." Ness pointed out, forcing himself to be calm as Professor Kale's eyes drifted up to the sky, "Oh… I think it's the one concerning your special powers, Ps something or other?"

 _"Fudge."_ Ness mentally cursed as Professor Kale glanced back down at him, a knowing glint in his eyes.

"How?" Ness simply asked, sensing no way out of his new problem.

"Professor Moody's first class helped me pinpoint it," Professor Kale explained, "I've been hearing a lot of reports of how you were terrible at performing spells and that you've just barely scrapped by in Transfiguration and Charms as well as Potions but I didn't understand why at first, you were bright, took to lessons with slight ease and didn't really hate trying new things until…"

"Until?"

"When you were playing capture the flag, you were casting 'spells' but you never shot any lights at people despite preforming Stupify, instead, you sent ripples through the air at your target. An unseen force that slightly disrupted the magic around it."

 _"So that's what wizards see when I preform magic? Or rather, feel?"_ Ness wondered, _"Magical ripples which they don't notice until it's too late?"_

"Don't worry, I had an uncle who was just like you," Professor Kale started, interrupting Ness's thoughts, "Fantastic history buff and lover of the stars but dreadful at casting spells, oh, and plants _hated_ him for some reason, never could figure out why though, they just did."

"So… You aren't going to tell anyone?" Ness asked, quickly tacking on, "Anyone official?"

"Why should I? You're a student with a learning disability." The man brushed a lack of ginger hair out his eyes and smiled at Ness, "Besides, I'm quite curious to hear how a magically dreadful student is going to get past the first round."

Ness sighed but nodded his head in agreement, "It's really dumb though," he warned before he showed Professor Kale his metal bat, "A friend sent it to me so I would have a decent weapon against the dragon," Ness explained, expanding it with a sharp click then turning it back into a doorknob, "The plan was for me to somehow bring it to me during the fight so I wouldn't go in empty handed, but it isn't working. I've been studying Accio like crazy and it won't come to me!"

"Because you're doing it _our_ way." Professor Kale said, pointing toward his robe to clarify 'our', "Not _your_ way."

"I have a way?" Ness questioned, "Besides swinging my bat and giving people migraines?"

"Well of course!" Professor Kale exclaimed, "Tell me, have any of your friends been able to pull off anything you can do?"

Ness shook his head no.

"Because they aren't wired like you are, it's tricky but wizards, they bend and force things to their will like with the unforgivable curses and transfiguration. While your kind, they have their own means of getting things done, a nicer way I suppose, they use the things around them, like elements, and merely confuse the mind for a bit, giving them symptoms they can easily clear up on their own if they put their frazzled mind to it." Professor Kale started before he paused, searching for a metaphor.

"It's… like a river and an ocean!" he finally deduced, "An ocean tears down and submerge anything in its way to complete its mission of moving back and forth while a river merely goes around its obstacles, slowly chipping away at the rocks and wildlife around them until their either destroyed or change in some way."

"…That sounds like a way better comparison than the one I had." Ness admitted, frowning at how Professor Kale managed to easily find the differences between Magic and PSI so quickly. It made sense, all the spells he had learned so far, no matter what their purpose forced something to happen.

Like the vase someone had accidentally broken during a Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall easily repaired it without any trouble, forcing it back into its original form and basically rewinding time, like Hermione's time turner which forced the person back in time by bending the rules of space and time.

Even Stupify forced someone to be still until they were helped by someone else, something not even his Paralysis could do—which was saying something since it had a 50/50 chance of working and keeping the target stunned for a certain amount of time.

PSI gave status effects, whittled away someone's strength until they couldn't fight and refreshed the injured, giving them new found strength or healing certain cuts and bruises. It was a force of willpower and also gentle persuasion which didn't always work.

Unless, you were a wizard who was hard wired to be forced into doing something if they didn't dodge an attack or had a strong mind like Harry's.

"You sound like you're trying to be an ocean, not a river." Professor Kale said, "Instead of using the skills you have to persuade the door knob into coming to you, you're forcing it to come when it can't."

"So, what should I do? I mean, I willed someone away once to try and get them to safety but wasn't I doing the same thing? Forcing them to leave?"

"Maybe… Depending on what that person was doing they probably wanted to get home, and they were a person, something you were used to willing to certain places." Professor Kale pointed out, "This, is an object with different mass, no humane thoughts or actions besides being a tool. You aren't used to forcing things to happen, only wishing for it to work so you can buy yourself sometime."

Ness thought for a bit before he slowly nodded, "Okay… so I have to wish it to work, like how I wish a certain monster would get debuffed or stunned so I could attack some more."

"And, maybe picture it by your side, preferably in your hand." Professor Kale said as he tossed a book away and retrieved it with Accio, smiling as the book flew back into his hand with ease.

"Was that like your teleportation spell?" he asked as Ness blinked in surprise at how smoothly the book had flown to him.

"N-no, normally I think of the place, start running and poof, I'm there somehow." Ness stammered.

"Another thing you're doing wrong then, you're picturing it _flying_ toward you, not _teleporting_ to you and appearing in your hand in a flash of light."

Ness slowly nodded and grinned, "Thanks teach! I'll be sure to try it out in the morning."

"No problem." Professor Kale said, his smile somehow being bigger and oddly enough, more relieved than Ness's, "I'm just glad my weird uncle was able to help out some way."

Ness laughed and said, "He's not weird! He's awesome!" as he left the tower, happily bumping into Ginny on his way to bed and whispering, "I figured it out."

"How?" Ginny asked, glancing up from her textbook and fighting fighting a yawn before she grumbled, "On second thought, tell me in the morning."

Ness nodded and said, "Good night!" before he happily climbed the stairs to his dorm room, his mind whirling at the new comparison Professor Kale had given him. It made sense, why magic was so hard for him to mimic without giving him migraines and why it always blew up in his face in a storm of jagged rainbow lines.

He was wired differently than wizards, and they were wired into dealing with one hit moves. Like the death curse, Ness shuddered at that thought as he realized just how dangerous wizards were to themselves and muggles, even with their conjured shields and spell blocks. They would be forced under someone's will without any means of escape.

 _"And yet PSI users are banned."_ Ness thought as he fell asleep, happily planning his Saturday morning.

"So? How did you do it?" Ginny eagerly asked as they all sat in the classroom.

"Yea! What changed?" Selvis practically demanded as Luna hummed, "I bet the Ida Gremlins helped you out."

"Professor Kale helped me out," Ness admitted, waiting for he panicked looks to pass before he explained in detail about how the man knew, "He put it like this, magic is an ocean, ready to steamroll over anything in its way and destroy it at once while PSI is a calm river, going around its problems or slowly destroying it. Wizards force the rules to change while PSI users merely bend it, usually getting 50/50 results at best."

"50/50?" Selvis questioned, "So why is that every time you used an attack I've always been down for the count unless you've healed me?"

"Because you were hard wired to be _forced_ to do something, plus, you woke up on your own." Ness reminded him, "Remember? Hypnosis? I've never had to cure you half the time, you just wake up."

Selvis opened his mouth to argue then frowned and nodded in agreement, "Another reason why wizards thought PSI users were dangerous then," Luna said, "Even though they could impress their will on PSI users, they went for one hit KO's while PSI users sapped away their strength while keeping there's up."

Ness nodded in agreement while Ginny asked, "So, have you been able to get the bat to come to you yet?"

"Let's see." He placed the door knob on the desk and walked to the back of the room, closing his eyes and opening his wand, he pictured the door knob appearing in his hand, wishing it to happen so he could defend himself. It took a moment before Ness felt something cold and heavy appear in his hand in a flash of white light.

"It worked." Ness simply said as Ginny and Luna punched the air, Selvis sulked and sighed, "I was really hoping it wouldn't so I could see you get mauled by a dragon," but he had a faint smile on his face before he turned away with a huff.

"Hey, don't forget, I can talk to dragons." Ness reminded him, grinning as Selvis gasped and snapped, "Don't even think about it Earthbound!" while Ginny mused, "I wouldn't mind seeing a dragon chase a snake around."

"Weasly! Don't egg him on!" Selvis ordered, "He doesn't need any more crazy ideas running through his head!"

"I don't know… watching a dragon attack the stands would be interesting." Luna said, earning looks of disbelief from her friends, "Yea no." Ness said ending the conversation before he tossed his bat in the air and put it back in his robe pocket.

"So, we have one of our goals completed." Ginny said, "Now we just need to figure out the mystery of why Ness is here and who summoned the dark mark and entered Ness and Harry into the tournament."

"The person who summoned the dark mark and entered Harry into the tournament are probably the same person," Luna theorized, "They would have saw Harry point blank, realize that they could come after him in order to get back into You-Know-Who's good graces and chased after him."

"Which means that it could be Karkaroff since Victor was there." Selvis pointed out.

"We didn't see anything that was related to their school though," Ginny said, "We bumped into a couple girls from Beauxtons. That was it."

"No crazy Bulgarians?" Selvis asked.

"Maybe? I mean, a lot of Bulgarian supporters were there but we didn't see anything that screamed Durmstrang. Plus, we were sort of running for our lives at the time." Ness answered.

"So, narrowing down suspects at the Cup is going to be impossible then." Selvis grumbled, "Lovely."

Ness was about to nod in agreement when Ginny blurted out, "Hold on! Winky was reserving a seat for someone during the match!"

"Oh yea! And she had a massive panic attack when I tried to talk her into reading a book!" Ness recalled, "Harry said it was just how house elves work but…"

"But maybe that seat was for an invisible person who performed the Death Eater mark!" Selvis realized bouncing up and down as Luna frowned and rained on their parade, "But who? Mr. Crouch's family's dead. His son passed away first in Azkaban and his wife shortly followed."

"W-well, it could be someone we don't know then," Selvis stammered, someone close to you know who."

"Not Peter, his voice was completely different than Invso man." Ness said, frowning as his friends shot him baffled looks, "He was invisible and he doesn't have a name, therefore, Invso man."

"That's a dumb name." Selvis snorted as Luna suddenly exclaimed, "What if it's that witch who went missing?"

"Maybe, but Dad says that Bertha Jorkins was very forgetful and probably got lost during her vacation."

"For almost an entire year?" Ness questioned, vaguely remembering Ginny's dad mentioning her before the World Cup, "Yea no, something's wrong."

"The Death Eaters must have got her!" Luna realized, "She was on the Ministry's sports department, right?" they nodded and paled when Luna continued, bouncing up and down at her theory, "So maybe she was kidnapped during her vacation and probed for information, learning about the cup _and the Triwizard Tournament_! Giving the invisible person enough information to go after Harry discreetly!"

"He must be hidden, since Harry hasn't informed me about anyone weird on the Map." Ness deduced he looked at Selvis who was tapping his wand in thought, "Is there a way to disguise yourself as someone else? Like a foolproof way?"

"Highly skilled Transfiguration to shape shift into someone, Pollyjuice potion and some cloaking charms." Selvis explained, "Pollyjuice is probably your best bet since you can make a large batch of it and hide it away, plus it's way easier to remember than transfiguration."

"So, someone in or out of the castle is drinking Pollyjuice Potion and attending the tournament." Ginny said, "Maybe a judge, or a reporter."

"Not a reporter," Ness quickly argued, "The teachers hovered around us like crazy for the interview and Rita wasn't carrying any bottles with her, so it'll be a judge or an adult spectator."

"Alright, so for the first challenge, everyone keeps their eyes peeled for any flasks or containers' that the judges may have." Selvis instructed, "That'll be our best bet for finding the spy."

"Oh! Also, be on the look out for anyone trying to whisk Harry away for a private conversation." Ginny added, "Especially if their high-ranking members of the Ministry."

"Could Voldemort's forces really infiltrate the Ministry?" Ness asked, "I mean, wizards have better security than mu—humans do, right?"

"The World Cup had the best security in the world, and yet you were still attacked." Selvis dryly pointed out, "Given the right time window and the fact that our culprit is invisible, I think it's a safe bet to say that the Ministry's evil for the moment."

"I always thought they were evil." Luna admitted with a small shrug, earning an offended look from Ginny, "People in power often keep big secrets from the public," Luna explained, a small sheepish smile forming as Ginny folded her arms, "And, it's a huge system, almost every wizard works there and keeps track of something, with a big system it'll be easy for underhanded tricks and bribes to slip through."

"Point," Selvis agreed, "Like with Black nearly getting a Dementor's Kiss."

"And PSI users being banned from the magic world despite me being here." Ness grumbled as he glanced out the window and saw the setting sun.

"Dumbledore probably bribed someone to do it." Selvis grumble as Ginny stretched and jumped off the table, "Maybe," Ginny agreed, "But until we can figure out why exactly Dumbledore dragged Ness over here, we might as well make sure that Harry doesn't get himself killed."

"Hey, he did okay last year!" Ness teased as they headed for the Great Hall for dinner. Not noticing a small rat disappearing into Professor Moody's office as they went their separate ways.

* * *

 **Alright, even though I just had Kale explain it, I'm saying it again to further clear up any confusion about Ness's powers and his use of magic, something I didn't think would be a problem until a reader asked if Ness was going to learn magic.**

 **So once again! Explanation! (Or you could skip it if you understand it,)**

 **So,** ** _Ness cannot use magic in any shape or form,_** **and wizards,** ** _cannot use PSI._** **Ness has just been using his PSI powers to fake it with poor results since magic and PSI are two different things like Kale explained.**

 **PSI is like a river, slow and steady, able to either chip away at an object blocking its path or go around it while Magic, is an ocean, a powerful force that forces something to submit or destroys it in a single or, if forced deal a couple blows.**

 **Can a river turn wild, out of control and dangerous? Yes, can an ocean be calm, gentle and slowly whittle away at something? Yes. But they are still both two completely different things. A river is still a much smaller body of water compared to the ocean, which is why PSI users have a set amount of natural skills and powers since PSI is shaped by a person's needs and personality. Their growth path already picked out for them by the time they realize they have powers.**

 **Oceans, are a large body of water with endless secrets within them. Wizards can freely roam the world and expand their powers much easier than a PSI user can since they have teachers and history showing unthinkable things and experiments, which is how Voldemort came back to life, he reached out, created the perfect plan and used the history of the horcruxes to evade death.**

 **Wizards are greatly different than PSI user because of this, PSI users having a hard time growing once they reach the omega status of their natural powers since they were hard wired to make do with what they have, conserve their mental strength (MP) if possible and find other routes to solve a problem since their powers can only take them so far in life and combat.**

 **Wizards don't really have to worry since magic is their life, strength and career not just a tool to make work easier and they have a large variety of spells they can use and learn to defend themselves with ease.**

 **Hopefully that wasn't to redundant. I tend to go on tangents when I have a keyboard in front of me and a theory in mind. ^_^;**


	19. Chapter 19, The First Challenge

Ness. Was overwhelmed, not by the fact that he was going up against a powerful dragon, not that his and Harry's lives were in danger thanks to the person behind this whole mess and not by the lovely appearance of Ludo Bagmen, Barty Crouch and an army of reporters milling around the grounds as they prepared for the big event.

But by how palpable everything felt, the high running tensions, the uncontrollable excitement at the first challenge and the fact that classes were canceled for the day and the army of invisible nervous butterflies hovering over each champion who could barely stomach anything from breakfast before they were called to the area to the Qudditch arena and ushered into a big grey tent.

They all wrung their hands, looking nervous but also with a small glint of relief at the fact that they knew what was coming. Ness noticed that Cedric shot Harry a relived look every now and then before he faced forward, listening to the loud chatter outside as people filled into the stands and the announcers—people Ness didn't recognize checked their 'mikes'.

Some of the nervousness died away when Ludo and Barty Crouch entered the tents and explained the rules, Ludo a bit enthusiastic while Mr. Crouch merely stood off to the side, looking like he couldn't be bothered by any of this as he dabbed at his face with a dark red handkerchief.

 _"Someone's not looking to well."_ Ness noted, studying the man out of the corner of his eye as Ludo rambled on. The challenge was simple, get the Golden egg a dragon was guarding in the most effective way possible without bring any harm to her real eggs.

Seemed simple enough, until, they had to pick their dragon. Victor went first, pulling out a forest green dragon with lean back legs and a skinny yet powerful arms that hovered above the ground a number two and the name, "Venus Hunter." Was around its neck as Victor took a step back.

Next, was Flur who pulled out the New England Mist Bane Dragon and the number five, Cedric got a Dewdrop Dragon who was the color of the night sky with the number three, Alexander got a Banshee Dragon with the number four.

Adaliz, with Sepri, the River Frost Serpent dragon with number six while Harry got Tira and a number seven, leaving Ness with a Spiked Tail Mountain Dragon with the bold number one.

"Oh good, the nastier the better." Ness mumbled as the champions examined the figurines in their hands and nervously lined up by number order as Bagmen gave some last-minute pep talks before rushing outside.

"They'll call you when its time." Crouch explained before he to left. Leaving the champions to silently form a plan around their respected dragon.

Ness's plan? Summon his bat and try to avoid the jagged spikes on the dragon's tail and if possible, talk her down.

He jumped as he heard his name being called and moved to leave, the morning sun blinding him as he walked down a man made path and into an arena causing the crowds to roar and boo at him as he grinned and pulled his baseball cap on, not caring that he was going to be chewed out for this decision by Professor McGonagall.

If he was going to fight in a wizard's robe and jeans, then he was at _least_ going to do it in his trusty baseball hat. Which had a good 50+ defense rate.

 _"You smell familiar."_ The giant dragon about the size of a small mountain rumbled, her dull grayish brown scales glinting in the sun light as she studied him from behind her tail, her body protectively around her eggs with the Golden egg in the middle, sticking out like a sore thumb among the rock colored eggs.

Ness merely grinned as he placed the dragon as Sparik and adjusted his hat, tuning out the roar of the crowds and the announcer and focusing on his right hand as Sparik prepared to attack, snarling, _"Even if this is just for show, I won't let my honor be sullied by a mere human!"_

 _"If it makes you feel better,"_ Ness replied jumping back as her spike covered tail slammed down on the ground, kicking up plumes of dust as the club like weapon suddenly came hurtling out of the dust, ready to turn him into Ness-Shiskabob.

 _"Baseball bat! Please don't fail me now!"_ Ness opened his right hand, and pictured his new bat there, ready to defend himself from the blood thirsty dragon who was determent to show that she wasn't messing around.

"What's this now!" an announcer yelled as the collapsible bat appeared in his hand and Ness swing his right arm, expending it and striking Sparik's tail.

 _"Ow!"_ she drew her tail back with a dragon like look of surprise as she snorted and blew smoke from her nostrils, _"How… how did a measly bat harm me?"_ she wondered, growling in frustration when she spotted Ness slowly inching forward, keeping a careful eye on her tail as he prepared to break into a home run sprint.

"Hey batter-batter!" Ness yelled, dodging another swipe and swinging his bat like no tomorrow, grinning at the loud crack it made as the metal alloy connected with the side of the tail. He dug his heels into the dirt, grimacing as the tail nearly sent him into a wall and cut some of his robes but recovering quickly as he recovered a measly 100 damage from the attack thanks to the bat taking must of the brute force.

"Is he fighting with a cricket bat!?" someone yelled from the crowd as Ness shot a wary glance at his bat, not liking the various dents that were slowly warping the frame.

"No! It's an American Baseball bat!" Ness corrected as he focused on Sparik who was growing livid by the fact that Ness was actually landing some damage to her sturdy tail.

 _"Wizards!"_ Sparik snarled as she lashed out with her tail, her growls of rage increasing in volume as Ness dodged and ran toward her nest.

 _"Yeeaaaa not the brightest idea."_ Ness decided as Sparik's eyes widened in understanding and her tail swiped back, forcing Ness to make a last minute jump to the side as it returned in front of her eggs, the five foot spikes blocking the golden egg from sight as Ness felt blood trickle from the back of his ankles and the message _Mortal Damage_ flashing in front of his eyes.

At least the cut was a small one, if it was any bigger then Ness would have begun to worry, but it was okay for now and Ness was close enough to do dish out some actual damage to Sparik.

"Eat metal!" Ness yelled, darting in and slamming his bat on Sparik's nose, grinning as the Dragoness reared back in pain, her front legs actually pushing up as her giant black claws dug into the earth.

"Baseball bat for the win!" Ness cheered running in between the gap created by Sparik pushing herself up and carefully grabbing the egg and placing it under his elbow like a football.

 _"Humans...!"_ Sparik seethed as Ness scrambled over her massive tail, avoiding the smaller spikes littered around her scales and ran for the arena exit where two Dragon tamers were making their away inside, preparing to apprehend her.

 _"Well, it was a fake egg if it makes you feel any better."_ Ness offered, trying not to glance over his shoulder as he heard a murderous roar than an explosion. He risked a quick glance as he felt something hot behind him and yelped as a large vortex of fire slammed into him.

 _"So Sparik's a sore loser. Nice to know."_ Ness thought, keeping this thought to himself as he held his breath and waited for the fire to fade out so he could see. He vaguely heard people screaming and yelling for some wizards to control Sparik when the fire died down and the noise stopped.

 _"On second thought. You aren't human."_ Sparik decided as Ness coughed and threw his now flaming robe off, scowling in disgust at it before he jogged out of the arena, grinning as he wiped the soot away from his face, ignoring the pain running up and down his body as he announced "Behold! I have a golden egg!" and entered the Champions tent, holding it over his head. He flinched at his less than warm welcoming as the girls screams and the guys looked at him in shock.

"It actually set you on fire?!" Harry asked as Ness dusted off his slightly burned striped sweater and adjusted his hat, "Yea, nothing I couldn't handle though." Ness replied winching as his back-leg muscles burned in pain from the cut being infected with smoke and ash.

"Dragons! Really!" Madam Pomfrey spluttered as Victor was called next, looking a little pale as Madam Pomfrey dragged Ness over to a medical tent.

Fussing over him as Ness protested that only his ankles were hurt and that he was perfectly fine.

"Young man, people do not get a face full of dragon fire and walk it off!" the nurse wizard snapped.

 _"Wizards and humans don't. But PSI users who have a second skin formed by their powers can sometimes walk it off."_ Ness thought as he allowed Madam Pomfrey to fuss over him and heal his ankles which burned slightly before the cut healed and forced him to rest before he was called to receive his score. Dumbledore, Madam Maxine, Karkaroff, Bagmen and Crouch were the judges and their perches made Ness feel a little uneasy. Small even as he stepped onto the stage and found himself bombarded with camera flashes before one by one, they gave him a number.

Dumbledore gave him a 7 for his creative thinking, Madam Maxine gave him a 5, probably the only decent number she could come up with without seeming a bit bias, Karkaroff gave him a 3 (Ness deduced it was because he hated Baseball or was disappointed that he hadn't gotten killed in the attack.) Bagman gave him an 8 for some reason exclaiming how the entire fight was daring, dumb and exhilarating while Crouch gave him a 2.

Ness found that a bit odd but didn't complain at his score of twenty-five as he headed back to the medical tent before Madam Pomfrey dragged him back in herself.

It was a little relaxing to just be hanging around the tent flaps, watching the challenge out of a corner of his eye as Madam Pomfrey prepared for the next victim, received them and fussed all over them as she had with Ness.

Victor came back with three ugly claw marks over his clothes and chest, the wound wasn't very deep, but it was enough to make Ness cringe in sympathy as Victor faintly muttered, "Didn't expect the Venus Hunter to be so light on her feet." Before heading out to get a score of 38.

Cedric came next, looking a little sleepy as he accidentally dropped his egg on his foot got fixed up and nearly fell asleep during the judging, not hearing his score of 22, then Alexander who was yelling that he was fine after a loud screeching match with Mimic getting 36, and finally Flur who was looking a green around the edges and struggling to breath as she got 41 points.

Madam Pomfrey kicked him out after Flur's return, forcing him to go sit with the crowd and watch the last two matches and judging from the sidelines.

It was a bit lonely since Ness was near the bottom of the bleachers and had no clue where Ginny and Luna were, but worth it to see Adaliz slowly work her way around the serpent like snake using a water spell to create a small wave of water that danced around Sepri who hungrily chased after it like a toy, not even caring that Adaliz had taken the fake egg until the water smacked her in the face. Causing the snake dragon to give a watery huff and sulk as the tamers pulled her out of the arena, got Adaliz medical treatment she didn't really need and gave her a score of 34, before the tamers brought in Tira who looked less than thrilled at the entire thing.

"And now, Harry Potter!" half the crowd erupted in cheers as Harry stepped out, wand out and his expression determent as he held his wand up and yelled, "Accio!" and waited. It took ten minutes before suddenly his Firebolt shot out from the castle and arrived beside Harry, surprising everyone who then erupted in cheers as the announcer said something that was drowned out by the cheering.

 _"Smart hatchling."_ Ness heard Tira rumbled as Harry shot into the air, with a proud grin as he eyed the Golden egg, not noticing how Tira's eyes listlessly studied him, clearly interested in him but at the same time, not as her eyes slowly slid over to the crowd.

 _"Arrogant wizards."_ Tira growled as Harry carefully studied her and waited, darting back and forth while trying to gain her attention, _"Cheering a hatchling on against a dragon who fans the volcanic embers onto cities as if he's in no danger. Pathetic."_ She glared up at Harry and huffed, fire building in her mouth as she prepared to attack.

Harry stiffened slightly and flew out of the way, avoiding a wall of fire as Tira gave a motherly roar of anger her curved wings snapping open as she reared back, her tail curling around her clutch of eggs as her wings gave a powerful flap, sending torrents of hot air and smoke toward Harry.

Ness paled as Harry was pushed back, his glasses covered in soot as he covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve to prevent a mouthful of ash from entering his lungs. His body shaking as he pulled his arm soot covered arm away and coughed. His reaction proving to be futile as the announcer yelled, "Looks like the Volcanic-Curved Wing is getting to ready to attack Harry! Currently blinded by the fire!" forcing Harry to shake off his coughing fit and scrub his glasses clean while also moving in the air, trying to avoid Tira's next attack.

Tira followed him with her eyes, flames curling around her snout as she reared back and shot another fire wall at him and fanned the smoke from her mouth up at him to create a smoke screen that would force Harry to land.

Harry eventually shot down to the ground, hurtling like a rocket and causing the crowd to scream as Harry prepared to slam head first into the dirt when he suddenly shot upward piercing the lingering smoke like a bullet and looking down at Tira with partially cleaned glasses.

"Go Harry!" Ness cheered, feeling relived as Tira looked up at him in slight shock before she readied her wings, changing tactics. Harry braced himself and waited as Tira flapped her wings, sending huge gusts of air that Harry clumsily flew through then blew out a plume of smoke which flew up toward the young wizard.

Ness briefly saw Harry's eyes flash as he shot downward once more, clearing the smoke and making a sharp right as Tira suddenly lunged up snapping empty air as Harry spun his broom around and dove under Tira who spat an angry flame at the ground, her wings slamming down as Harry reached the eggs, effectively trapping him under her massive wings as she curled into a tight ball, closing any gaps he could have used to escape.

Tira slowly peered inside, mouth glowing with flames that faintly lit up her darkened nest and illuminated Harry and a flash of gold.

 _"Ooooh that is not good-,"_ Ness started when Tira suddenly reared back, blinking her eyes in shock and pain as a black blur shot out from the wing cage, clutching a golden egg.

"He's done it! Harry Potter's managed to escape the clutches of death and retrieve the Golden Egg!" the announcer cheered as Harry proudly held it up the best he could and flew toward the exit with a huge grin on his face.

Ness was already waiting for him by the exit, relived to see that his friend hadn't gotten himself seriously hurt. "Awesome job!" he congratulated, giving Harry an energetic high five before escorting him to the Medical tent to be fussed over.

"I got really lucky remembering that water spell." Harry admitted, coughing slightly as Madam Pomfrey healed some nasty burns on his hands and face before shooing him outside to receive his score.

He got the second highest score of 43 despite Kakroff's 3 points.

"So apparently, for me to win I'm going to need a broomstick," Ness teased as reporters appeared for private interviews. Ness and Harry quickly ducked behind Alexander and Adaliz who nervously tried to shy away from the sudden attention.

"Come on, maybe we can hide behind the bleachers-," Ness started when someone with an American accent yelled, "Excuse us!" and broke through the wall of reporters with practiced ease.

"Ahoy there!" a young woman chirped as a man slightly older than her stood behind her, an old fashion camera at the ready as he and the woman gave them excited smiles that looked a lot more… human, then the smiles the other reporters were giving them.

"I'm Lily Adams and this is my older cousin, Chip Adams." The woman introduced her voice upbeat and excited as she brushed a lock of brown and lilac colored hair out of her pink tinted glasses, "We're from the Mystic Informant!"

"Mystic…Informant?" Harry questioned, his eyes narrowing slightly at the unfamiliar paper, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I've heard of them before."

"Of course not! We're from America!" Lily explained, "We cover national tournaments, global news, attacks and other things! Sadly, Europe doesn't exactly like our hard work so we don't get published over here."

Chip shook his head in mild disgust and said, "Make one bad joke about a glitter cover robe and you're banned. The animals." Before he turned and got a side shot of Flur and Adaliz who were talking to an envious Rita Skeeter.

"Oh brother." Lily grumbled, rolling her eyes at the memory, before she clicked on a recorder and pointed it at Ness, "So baseball bat! What was it like going up against a Spiked Tail Mountain Dragon?" Lily chipperly asked, "Terrifying? Thrilling? Boring even!?"

Ness blinked in surprise as she leaned forward earning a snort of disbelief from Chip as he took a picture of them and said, "Answer them the best you can, Lily's a bit of a loose cannon."

"Am not!" Lily protested before she turned back to Ness who adjusted his hat and nervously admitted, "I was pretty relaxed during most of it, I've faced worse before and the only thing I had to watch out for was her tail."

"Faced worse?! What could be worse than a dragon!?"

"Soul sucking monsters?" Chip offered with a light laugh that quickly died when Harry and Ness shared a look of discomfort.

"Oh geez…" Chip exclaimed softly, "I was just-,"

"Joking," Harry finished, "We know."

"Besides, it's not every day you meet a couple kids who go up against Dementors." Ness joked.

"Ohhhh, so how did you defeat those guys?" Lily asked, leaning forward once more as Ness felt something, something that nudged his brain into pushing forward the terrifying battle against the horde of black cloaked ghouls.

"We just got lucky," Harry answered, sounding a bit relaxed even though he was skirting around what really happened, "Someone spotted us in the woods and used Patronous, allowing a teacher to rescue us."

"Do you think Sirus Black summoned it?" Lily asked before Chip nudged her and shot her a disapproving glare.

"Stay on topic little Ms. I can talk all day, we have other people to interview." Chip reminded her as the nudging at the back of Ness's mind stopped, allowing Ness to focus on Lily's next question of, "So did you have any clues? Tips about this challenge?" and easily answer it before she turned to Harry, praising his flying skill and asking if he was aiming for the Quddtich World Cup when he got older.

Harry actually blushed a little and bashfully said he hadn't thought about it before he talked about how he got the idea to summon his broom and the last-minute burst of adrenal that allowed him to react to Tira's nearly fatal final attack.

Ness frowned at all the detail Harry was mentioning, nervously admitting that he had been terrified when he realized that the Dragon had lured him into a trap and saw his life briefly flashing in his eyes before he acted on pure instinct.

Chip and Lily suppressed looks of horror for his sake and thanked them for his time, promising to send them both free copies of Mystic Informant when they published it before they went to interview Adaliz and Alexander who were looking a little faint.

"Get ready to run—," Ness started when he saw Rita Skeeter practically glow with happiness at the sight of them when Chip bumped into her and said, "Sorry! I was blinded by your robe!" which was another hideous alligator robe. Even though it was a truthful statement since the sun was reflecting off of the scales, making her look like a green skinned disco ball, the remark was somehow enough to send Rita into a rage and get her escorted off the field by officials as she tried to hex Chip who ignored her.

"Luckkkky." Ness whistled as they watched the horrid woman be dragged away.

"I wonder if Mr. Adams can tick her off all the time." Harry mused as someone yelled, "Ness you moron!" and tackled Ness in a hug.

"Carrot attack!" Ness yelled as he caught a snippet of orange hair before he fell to the ground.

"Really?" Ginny said, glaring at him as she broke apart and helped him stand, "Just, really?"

"That was amazing!" Luna gushed, actually looking wide awake for once, "I thought you were two were goners but then, you just performed miracles!"

"Don't ever do it again though." Ginny warned shooting them both looks, "Or else I'll be forced to tie you knuckle heads up with Spello tape."

"And I'll help." Hermione offered, joining them and giving Harry a quick hug before she praised him for being able to do it _and_ remember the water spell that they had learned last week, "I knew you could do it Harry!" Hermione said, a tired yet proud smile on her face as Ginny bombarded him with questions.

"So… How did you survive the flames?" Luna quietly asked as they spotted Ron numbly approaching them, looking as pale as a sheet.

"Some enemies used elemental attacks against us, so I devolved a second skin to avoid getting killed with my PSI powers, Paula and Poo have one too." Ness replied with a small shrug.

"Here he comes." Harry grumbled just noticing Ron as he awkwardly rung his hands unsure what to say. They just waited while Luna happily waved hello, unaware of the Gryffindors' falling out with the Weasly.

"Harry." Ron finally said, his voice barely above a guilt felt and frightened whisper.

"Ron." Harry replied his voice devoid of any emotion as he coolly stared his friend down.

"Ness." Ness unhelpfully added, flinching as Ginny _and_ Luna punched him in the shoulder for his remark.

"I…I think someone's trying to kill you," Ron finally admitted, flinching at the unanimous looks of 'No! Really?" he received for stating the obvious.

"Finally got that silly idea of us risking our lives for fame then?" Harry asked.

Ron nodded and looked ashamed of himself, pulling at his worn sleeve as he forced himself to continue, "I-I'm sorry, I was just so caught up at the fact that you were going to enter a once in a life time tournament that I sort of… forgot."

Harry stared at Ron for a long moment before he placed a hand on his shoulder, "Next time, try to listen." Harry said with a forgiving smile.

"Or else I'll use my magic on you," Ness added, but he said it with a light teasing smile before he, Luna and Ginny headed inside the castle to have a late lunch and examine the Golden Egg. He was forced to go upstairs with Harry and the other Gryffindors for a party instead of sneaking off to the clubhouse where Selvis was waiting but after watching Harry open the egg and unleash a watery banshee scream which was supposed to be their clue. He was glad Dean and Seamus had dragged him upstairs.

"What kind of clue is that!?" Ron demanded as Fred grumbled, "Judges probably set it up for a sick joke."

"Maybe the clue's hidden inside the egg?" someone offered, cringing as Ness opened his own and peered inside before closing it, "Empty." He yelled, his ears ringing from the wail.

"So… the clue's hidden in that horrid screeching then." Lavender mused.

"How are you supposed to figure it out then?" Ginny asked.

"Who knows?" Ness said with a shrug, "But at least we _have_ a clue." Everyone murmured in agreement before they resumed partying and bombarding Ness with questions about how he survived through the fire and flames.

Ness brushed them off with a casual answer that he just got lucky and that he had no real clue and eventually, they went to resume asking Harry how he got the idea to summon his broom to fight the dragon. Giving Ness some breathing room before Selvis called him, forcing him to hastily head to his thankfully empty dorm room to speak to Selvis in private.

"What's up?" Ness asked, jumping in bed and closing the curtains as Selvis whispered, _"First, you're insane and second, Crouch left after your match for a bit. Putting Percy in charge for everyone but Harry."_

"He just, left? Right after giving my score?" Ness questioned, wondering why it wasn't a public announcement.

 _"Yup, I overheard someone say that Crouch was feeling faint and went to sit down in the medical tent."_

"He was never there."

 _"Oh?"_

"He only showed up with Bagmen to inform us of the rules and then he left. He never came back."

 _"You sure?"_

"Positive, I was hanging around there up until Flur got her score. Crouch never came in."

 _"So, he must have been sabotaging something."_ Selvis murmured, _"Or having a meeting with someone."_

"Who? Karkaroff never left his post, right?"

 _"Right, he stayed up there with Dumbledore, Madam Maxine and Bagmen for the entire challenge."_

"So, who did he speak to?"

Selvis fell silent for a moment as Ness tried to think of possible suspects of who Crouch could have gone to if he hadn't spoken to Karkaroff.

 _"Maybe there's another spy in the building."_ Luna suggested, causing Ness to jump in surprise as Selvis snapped, _"Geez! Say hello first!"_ before he dropped his voice and asked, _"But who smarty pants?"_

 _"Maybe Winky."_

"Winky? They questioned as movement came from Luna's side of the conversation before she answered, _"Well, she was fired, right? Maybe she wound up here."_

 _"Right, Hogwarts has a huge amount of house elves working for them."_ Selvis recalled as Ness felt his stomach twist in guilt as he remembered Hermione saying the same thing near the start of the year.

"Come to think of it, Winky would know if something was wrong with Mr. Crouch since she's been with him for so long." Ness realized, "But… will she talk?"

 _"First, let's focus on finding her then worry about if she'll talk or not."_ Selvis pointed out.

 _"Point,"_ Luna yawned, _"Besides, Crouch isn't due to return until the next challenge with that egg thingy."_

 _"Find any clues from that?"_ Selvis asked.

"Other than the fact that it screams like a banshee and gives me a massive headache and danger sense? Nope,"

 _"Bugger, well, at least you have a clue."_ Selvis yawned, _"So you aren't going in completely blind."_

 _"Plus, you'll have Alexander and Adaliz for help, right?"_ Luna asked.

"More or less, now we can actually form a plan around this one," Ness replied, fighting back a yawn of his own, "Let's continue this conversation in the morning guys."

 _"Fine with me, I have a Rita Skeeter to skin."_ Selvis growled before he ended the call, not even letting Luna say good night.

"So, we have an egg that won't shut up." Ness started during a lunch break period at their usual hang out with Adaliz and Alexander who were carefully holding their own eggs, "Any ideas?"

"I say, more dragons." Selvis unhelpfully suggested as he flipped through a dusty book, searching for something.

"Maybe a giant geese!" Luna offered, a bright twinkle in her eye, "They lay golden eggs!"

"They don't exist." Adaliz pointed out, frowning at Luna's strange idea.

"Well, they could." Ness said with a shrug as he went over the date of the next challenge. It would be on the leap day of February, giving them a good three months to work with—and prepare for Crouch's next arrival.

Kakroff was going to need to be watched as well, but since the Durmstrang students only came in for breakfast he doubted the Headmaster had it out for them or even had enough time to set Ness and Harry up.

"It sounds like singing," Alexander mused, closing his eyes in thought, "Actually… I think I've heard it before."

"Where?" Ginny asked.

"Um…" Alexander frowned and opened his eyes, "I don't know. I know it had something to do during a summer vacation with my family but… I was really little."

"Do you remember where you went?" Selvis asked, sitting up slightly as he performed some spell.

"A beach… But that's all,"

"So, water monsters at best." Ness sighed, looking down at his metal bat, it wouldn't be very effective under the water, it would either sink or float depending on the metal Jeff had used to create it.

"I can't swim." Adaliz bemoaned, "I never got a chance to learn since we didn't have a lot of water around my town."

"Didn't your Muggle school teach you that?" Ness asked in disbelief as Selvis spoke up, "Most wizards teach their kids at home before they go to their choice of magic school, less to worry about in terms of a muggle finding out they were a wizard."

"Well, looks like we're going to have to teach you how to swim Adaliz," Ness sighed, glancing outside to see the lake. The freezing lake with the giant octopus in it. Or was it a squid?

"E-er, we're also going to need spells that work under the water," Alexander pointed out, "My cousin tried to show off to a mermaid by summoning an umbrella from the beach side, but it didn't work."

Ginny, Luna and Selvis shot Ness worried looks, silently asking if his powers worked underwater. As far as Ness knew, they didn't, then again, he hadn't really been forced to fight underwater before. He shrugged his shoulders and looked at Luna.

"Know any spells Luna?" Ness asked frowning when she shrugged her shoulders, "Not really, magic _can_ still work underwater but it's sluggish, and doesn't pact as much of a punch." Luna answered.

"So, we'll be fighting on land if it comes to an actual battle," Adaliz mused. They nodded in agreement and tried to think up ideas as to what they might face, retrieving an item from under the water, a magical boat race, (Everyone shot Ness confused looks until he sighed and said, Muggle idea.) making their way through a watery obstacle course and one where they had to rescue someone.

Selvis had an idea of a battle to the death over the water which received horrified looks until Selvis deadpanned, "Well, considering the fact that you went up against living _dragons_ that doesn't rule out a battle to the death, now does it?"

"Let's just hope it's an obstacle course." Ness sighed as they went downstairs for dinner, "I'm not in the mood for anymore battles."

Adaliz and Alexander nodded in agreement and changed topic, talking about their interviews as Selvis lagged behind as usual, eagerly listening in as they made their way to the Great Hall.

* * *

 **So random fun fact, while I was writing the part where Ness was shooed out of the Medical tent by Madam Pomfrey, my grammar check wanted me to change it so Madam Pomfrey shot Ness with something, most likely her wand. I think Word has it out for Ness guys. Or, maybe it's mad at me since I just realized that the 'challenges' were actually called trails in the book. Whoops.  
**

 **Also, I reeaaaally wish that Ron wasn't a hothead! I hate writing fights and then having the two people involved make up, especially if it was a dumb fight to being with! it's too much angst for my goofy little soul to handle thinking about let alone writing it. T_T**


	20. Chapter 20, The Mystic Informer

About a week had past until the newspapers came in, everyone talking about the amazing performances of the seven champions and tossing around possible spells Ness could have used to deflect the last minute head on fire attack.

Some theorized that Ness had taken a Flame Resistance potion before going up against the Spiked Tail Mountain Dragon, others suggested a quick shield charm while Luna's Father said that Ness used a spell to tunnel underground at the last moment. (Ness got a good laugh out of that.)

Of course, Harry, Adaliz and Alexander were dragged into the realm of theories, some wondering how Adaliz had managed to create such a potent way of distracting the River Frost Dragon and complaining slightly that she hadn't ranked first for getting out unscathed. Alexander's theories were mostly about how the boy managed not the faint while he performed a bubble head charm on the dragon to use her own voice against her while he snatched her egg and fled.

Cedric, Victor and Flur got a couple theories but it was clear that everyone was rooting for the underdogs, infuriating the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins even more since the only bad things the newspapers could say was a possible romance between Ness and Ginny and Harry and Hermione when they recounted how Hermione could have taught Harry Accio and how overjoyed Ginny was to see that Ness was alright.

Selivs used this information to relentlessly heckle Ginny about Ness being her boyfriend and managed to get his housemates on the joke so Ginny couldn't secretly hex him.

The Mystic Informant hadn't arrived yet so they couldn't see what the American wizards thought of the first challenge. But that was okay, it allowed Ness to worry about something more important, like the Yule Ball which was announced during breakfast at the start of December. At first, it was a simple little thing which Ness ignored since he planned on heading home for the holidays and it was for Fourth year students and older to attend to celebrate the temporary truce between the three schools and the Tri-Wizard tournament, or the lack of.

He was never a fan for stuffy parties that forced him into formal wear since they took waaay to long to end and were a giant nuisance. But he quickly payed attention when Dumbledore added, "The ball shall begin at eight, opened by our Tri-wizard champions and their partners, and shall end at midnight."

"…Why?" Ness simple questioned as classes started up and he was dragged away by Ginny, "Because, the universe hates you." Ginny offered, glaring at a couple of now envious Gryffindor girls over that fact that she was holding Ness's hand.

"Everyone's going to ask me to take them to the ball." Ness bemoaned as they entered the Charms classroom, "Aren't they?"

"Yup." Ginny replied, taking her usual seat behind Ness as class started and they went into turning coarse leather into floaty silk, something Ness flat out ignored since he knew he was only going to get a headache and an F for trying.

Instead, he focused on more important thoughts, like possibly finding somewhere to hide until December was over. Sure, he normally didn't find school dances that bad, despite his hatred for wearing formal clothes he didn't mind going to them just for the heck of it.

But this wasn't _just_ a school dance, it was a dance between three competing schools with a diverse house system and rumors lurking around the corners, Ness couldn't just randomly ask to go with someone as a friend since he could barely remember anyone in his class thanks to all the tense atmosphere plaguing him, completely killing his whatever vibe.

Hogwarts was becoming really, really dumb. Which was saying something since Ness used to think his old school was dumb given how obsessed the students were with social classes and hanging out with the cool kids. Now, it just seemed petty and a bit more enjoyable.

 _"I need to call mom."_ Ness realized as a wave of homesickness crashed down on him. Causing his stomach to curl into knots and his mood to dip into quiet depression as he realized he _couldn't_ just call her, he would have to write her a letter and then wait almost a week for her reply.

His home sickness grew even worse when Professor McGonagall posted a list of what they should wear to the ball and strict orders to look presentable while letting their hair down. This was no longer 'just' a dance, it was a 'prom night' which required careful planning of who you were going to ask out, what you were going to wear and pictures. Which would have been tearfully taken by his mom if he was back home.

King would probably yell that he was a penguin and demand to know why they kidnapped him, Tracey would relentlessly tease him about his date while his father would call him and give him some embarrassing tips about what not to do at a prom dance.

Harry and Ron didn't help either since the next day they dragged him away from the girls to ask who he was going to take to the ball, which was slowly annoying Ness to death despite learning about it yesterday.

"I dunno," Ness lamely answered, wanting to sneak up to the dorm room and try and write a letter just to get the crushing feeling of not being home off his chest, "I'll probably just go solo."

"To the Yule ball?!" Ron exclaimed, "Ness, it's a once in a life time opportunity! And, you and Harry have a bunch of cute girls to pick from!"

"Sort of like the Tri-wizard tournament." Harry bitterly reminded Ron, causing the red-head to flush with embarrassment and stammer, "W-well, this is a _good_ once in a life time opportunity!" before he focused on Ness who was daydreaming about Tracey's last snowball fight to the death which they performed almost every Christmas.

Would he be allowed to leave after the Ball? It would be after Christmas eve, he would probably have enough time if he packed his bags beforehand and left right after the dance.

The dance that was ending at midnight. Dang it, he wouldn't be able to make it back in time for Christmas morning—unless he teleported! Yes, teleportation could get him there and back—

"Ness!" he jumped and almost choked on a piece of egg he had been absently chewing on as Harry and Ron shot him worried looks, "Ness, are you alright?" Harry asked, "You were spacing out on us."

"Yea mate, something wrong?" Ron pressed.

Ness blinked, confused as to where he was at the moment before he bluntly answered, "Just homesick." And resumed eating breakfast, even though his stomach felt like a web of knots.

"Oh yea, you guys won't be able to take off for break." Ron realized before he tried to cheer Ness up, "Well, don't worry! You can write your mum about the good news!"

"Which well take exactly a week for me to send it and another week to receive it." Ness deadpanned, feeling oddly cranky as he heard the excited whispers about the Yule ball and who was taking who. The dance wasn't for twenty-nine days and everyone was overflowing with excitement! Which would soon translate to relentless energy to hover around the champions.

Unless, the girls in Europe had more tact than the girls back home. He knew a couple who weren't afraid to nervously stalk the person they wanted to go to the dance with.

Ness grimaced as another wave of homesickness washed over him, eating his good mood away as it reminded him just how far away he was from home. He wasn't in another town or a couple miles away. He was in another continent, in another country, in another culture. One that didn't seem able to shut up about the dumb ball.

"I'm going on ahead." Ness said, standing up and abandoning his breakfast minutes before class started. Not caring that he left his friends behind who watched him with confused and worried expressions or that he was basically sitting in an empty Transfiguration classroom trying to write a letter to his family.

Transfiguration. Did he _really_ have to be here? It wasn't like he could do magic anyway, and he had just about given up faking it after Professor Kale's insight to PSI, pointing out how vastly different they were despite seeming almost the same.

He should skip, it would probably before the best since he couldn't focus on anything but the letter. Which was now ruined thanks to Ness's hand twitching and sending his pen off course ruining his sentence.

"Greeaaaat." Ness grumbled, rolling up the letter and making a mental note to ask for pens. Why didn't wizards use pens? They were much cleaner _and_ more efficiency than using freaking quills which dripped ink over _everything._ But nooo, he was stuck in the middle ages of Europe with a weird smelling quill.

Ness paused then slumped in his desk, "Today is going to be a looooong day." He groaned as the bitter and agitated thoughts continued running rampant in his head.

The only thing that seemed to stop himself from snapping or bluntly answering people's questions were thoughts of home, which just made him feel worse when a teacher called on him or Ginny nudged him back into reality. By lunch he had completely run out of steam and desperately wanted to take a nap.

Or, at least figure out a way to mute the happy conversations and worried questions around him. Questions that were quickly answered with, "I'm just homesick." Which was poorly received by his friends. Or, that's what it felt like.

Didn't anyone know how bad homesickness felt!? Sure, him doing a complete 180 was odd and yes, him becoming a space cadet was odd but seriously! He just needed some space _away_ from the other wizards to calm down! How the heck had he survived last year without a serious case of homesickness? Oh wait, last year he thought it was a fluke and he was busy playing secret agent, Plus, he got to go home during holiday break.

Something that had helped keep the longing for home away. Now, he was stuck in a crazy tournament and had accidently forgotten to sign the slip to head home for Thanksgiving break thanks to the first challenge.

And now he was going to miss Christmas! GREAT! He resisted the urge to bang his head against the dining room table as he forced himself to go for a walk before his bad mood made him do something he'd seriously regret.

Did Belinda feel like this when she was attending Hogwarts? Cranky, listless and moody? He knew that Paula also felt homesick as well, not as much as Ness had during their journey but enough for her to become a little moody when they were taking it easy. It was sort of hard _not_ to feel homesick when traveling to new lands to try and save the world.

"I wish I had someone to talk to." Ness grumbled, he had tried talking his frustration out with Luna but her rambles about some monster didn't help and Ginny didn't even know how to deal with homesickness since she was always busy and distracted with school. Harry was a no go since he hated his home life, Hermione vaguely helped him out, but she was like Harry only she enjoyed learning and wished that the school year was a bit longer.

Ron didn't really care since he was glad that he had his own space for once and Selvis, Selvis was too busy trying to figure out Rita to lend an ear.

Did wizards do _anything_ that was _somewhat_ normal? His question was quickly answered as he wandered into the Herbology greenhouse section to see Professor Kale, Professor Sprout and Mad Eye Moody examining a purple butterfly shaped plants and tossing theories about it.

Well, Professor Kale and Sprout were tossing theories about how to save the plant while Mad Eye Moody merely exclaimed they should blow it up, grumbling about how it could be a trap sent by the upcoming Death Eaters who were feeling bold enough to attack the school.

"Moody," Professor Kale said looking annoyed as Sprout finally gave up with idea tossing and wheeled the plant back inside, "It's not sent by the Death Eaters, she grew it herself."

"And you know this how?" Moody challenged before he paused and turned toward Ness who was hiding behind a wriggling tree which was hissing for some reason, "Ah, Earthbound, out for a stroll?"

 _"How the heck did he see me?!"_ Ness slowly stepped out for the bush and adjusted his robes and sweater, "Something like that." He bluntly answered, not in the mood to get another 'pop quiz' from Moody. The last time he had bumped into Moody during break he had to turn around and run as Moody attempted to see how well his shield charm held up.

He could see Moody's wand hand twitching as Professor Kale brightened at the sight of him, "Just the person I was looking for!"

Really?

"You were looking for me?" Ness questioned, frowning slightly as Professor Kale nodded and ushered him back inside the castle tossing a casual, "See you later!" over his shoulder as he led Ness up to his office/

"I've been receiving a ton of letters about you and the other champions." Professor Kale explained, "I would have just redirected the owl to you but ah…" he trailed off and managed a sheepish smile as he pushed open his door revealing a barn owl glaring disdainfully at a mountain of multicolored letters resting on his desk.

"It's been a bit much." He finished laughing softly as Ness blinked in surprise and stepped forward, "Whose been sending me letters?" Ness questioned picking up a letter that was messily addressed to him and covered in stickers as Kale sat down on a moon shaped beanbag.

Apparently, Kale took great pleasure in his job of observing the stars since his office was full of tacky yet comforting objects related to outer space, he had beanbags shaped like the sun, moon and a star, the walls were painted a soothing night blue and had faint paintings of comets shooting through the night sky, the floor was covered with black hole rugs and he had a telescope looking out the window.

He probably had more star related trinkets that Ness couldn't see thanks to the overwhelming stack of mail.

"Wow… You really like space." Ness noted, spotting a poster of Pluto that said, 'Pluto is a planet!' off in the corner of the room.

"Live for it," Professor Kale admitted with a small laugh, "There are just so many secrets hiding within the black void known as space, with our guides being planets far beyond our reach that predict our future and fate." He gave a dreamy sigh before he stood up to prepare some hot coco. "I hope to find all the secrets, or at least life on Mars."

"Good luck with that." Ness said as he turned the letter over and looked up, "And speaking of secrets, where did all these come from? The letters."

Professor Kale shot him a confused look before he relaxed, "Ah, you never got the Mystic Informant."

"You got it?"

"Course I did! I'm their number one fan!" Professor Kale moved behind his desk, rummaging around a couple drawers before he tossed Ness their latest issue.

"Read it, I'm off to find marshmallows."

Ness barely heard him as he sat down and studied the purple cover of the magazine, the picture in the middle which had a magnifying glass with a sun shining through it, revealing a faint M and I with a couple tag lines to intrigue the reader.

One tagline caught his eye, saying 'Turn to page 29 for exclusive news about the Tri-Wizard Tournament!' which he promptly turned to and reeled back in surprise at the article with a picture of the seven champions receiving their points separately.

Chip and Lily went all out, the writing sounding like a passionate fan-boy gushing about the amazing skill sets everyone showed out there and not holding back on their fears at the injuries everyone received. For some odd reason, they didn't theorize over Ness's resistance to the fire blast and instead fussed over Harry's near-death experience.

Something no fourth year wizard should have faced given how close he was to death. After the information about who was in the lead, who they thought deserved it and the aftermath they went into private interviews.

Which made Ness's jaw drop as he read the interviews between the four youngest champions. Alexander had the shortest one out of all four of them but Ness could _feel_ the fear behind his answers as Lily asked him about how he felt about joining the tournament, how he even managed to get in and his plans for if he won before moving onto pressing him about his plan against his dragon.

Alexander had confessed that he hadn't planned on entering and honestly saw it as a sick joke that he, a wizard who was held back a year because of his struggles with performing magic was actually in the tournament.

 _"It's just… wrong, and going up against that dragon reminded me that I'm not supposed to be here, I'm not supposed to be risking my life for money I never wanted and I can't even leave, I know the Daily Prophet accused me and a couple other champions of working together or rather, trying to, but can you blame us? I'm probably the weakest link in our partnership and I had an almost easy dragon to go up against. I really just want to leave and watch from the sidelines but I can't, I'm a champion, competing for his life basically—oh! Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a tangent, I've just been, well, a nervous wreck."_

Ness made a mental note to have a heart to heart with Alexander later as Chip made a dumb joke to cheer the clearly overwhelmed wizard up before they moved onto Adaliz who was spitting fire about what happened. Chip and Lily had to interrupt her a couple times to beg her to switch back into English and speak slowly so they could write down her statement.

 _"I never asked to be here, I never_ _ **wanted**_ _to enter this silly tournament! I was content with cheering Flur on, I was content to watch from the sidelines with friends who temporally abandoned me since they thought I entered the tournament of my own free will and I was perfectly fine with coming to Hogwarts despite my Mother's hatred of the school._

 _But instead, me and three other underage wizards were dragged into a-a battle to the death for entertainment! I can't even ask to be kicked out for cheating my way into the tournament since they do not have a rule book! The Ministry has it! And they can't ask for it for some silly reason! Ugh, British Wizards and their rules make no sense!_

 _I feel that I lucked out during the first task, I love fooling around with non-attack spells since I plan on being a doctor, and being able to dislodge water seemed helpful. If I had gotten a dragon like Ness or Harry did, I would have been screwed since I tend to panic and shut down. I could have been killed if I had a panic attack!"_

Panic attacks, Ness hadn't even taken that into consideration since he was always a cool cucumber, but seeing how Alexander had actually fainted and Adaliz, who Ness pegged as an easy going person until she had angrily agreed with Ness that they should be disqualified it was easy to see where she was coming from.

 _"She's going to lose it when the second challenge comes around."_ Ness realized, remembering how Adaliz lamented the fact that she couldn't swim. And it was waay too cold to start practicing unless they somehow snuck into the prefects' bathrooms, which apparently had a private bathtub that was super fancy.

His and Harry's interview was very mellow compared to Adaliz and Alexander's interviews but he couldn't help feeling a bit unnerved by how many things he let slip when talking to Chip and Lily.

It hadn't felt like much at the time as he cringed at his accidentally out of him facing much more dangerous monsters like the Dementors and how Harry seemed to be giving the true answer as the interview shifted to focus on Harry who was talking for both of them.

They had somehow gotten more answers out of Ness and Harry than Rita Skeeter had, which was amazing given how upbeat and honest they seemed, letting Harry go on as they gentle prodded answers from him before they stopped themselves from getting completely off topic from their questions.

 _"There good."_ Ness decided, planning on keeping his guard up the next time he saw them. _"Really good."_ As he turned the page to find an article worrying about Hogwarts education tactics and the Ministry's performance as they pointed out how two children and a group of friends had managed to solve the mystery the Ministry couldn't and how the same group of friends nearly became lunch for the Dementors while Peter Petigrew slipped away.

The writer actively questioned the reader, asking why Albus Dumbledore allowed the same two heroes to enter the tournament when a clear madman was on the loose and with the attack of You-Know-Who's forces clearly becoming bolder for some odd reason.

He also questioned why the two competing schools allowed clearly unprepared students in the tournament and hoped they would managed to survive the dangerous tournament before the article ended with an ad for a school which Ness ignored.

Flipping through the rest of the paper and grinning at the corny jokes hidden in the titles the news of American politics which had a joking theory that their president was really an alien and some news about a serve thunderstorm that had happened near the end of November before it ended with an art corner competition for young children to draw the Mystic Informant's newest secret hider.

"Wow… these guys are awesome!" Ness exclaimed handing the issue back to him and accepting a cup of hot coco, "I know right? There a semiserious news publishing group that talks about almost everything and anything." Professor Kale replied with a small smile, "Just last week, they had a report about a guy stealing swing set seats and ended it by saying 'This is what happens when we can't find anything exciting to write about' before moving onto astronomy news."

"So, they wrote an awesome article about the Tournament, why the letters?" Ness asked.

"Well, from what I can gather, it's the tournament's American fanbase," Professor Kale explained, handing Ness a letter he had opened which had been sent by a young child who was cheering Ness and Flur on and explaining about how he couldn't wait to see what they would do for the second tournament. He even drew a small picture of what he thought Ness and Flur looked like fighting a giant goose and protecting the golden egg.

"Oh, and also worried letters from American parents, double oh, you got an army of letters from your mom."

"I did?"

"As far as I can tell," he pushed a stack of neatly bundled letters toward Ness who pulled one free and grinned when he saw his sister's handwriting.

"Seems like you haven't written to them enough." Professor Kale noted as Ness opened the letter and read Tracey's complaints about Ness doing cool things without her as usual and chiding him for actually going into battle with just a baseball bat, there were some sticks inside the envelope, probably from King and a clay good luck charm which Tracey promised would stop Ness from getting himself killed.

"It's been hard actually," Ness admitted as he opened an envelope from his mother which was basically three pages worth of fussing and angry scolding for entering something so dangerous, "I can't really explain anything to them and it just seems like the moment I send a letter off, something new and important pops up and I have to write about that to." He grimaced as he glanced out the window, "Plus the bazillions of miles between us isn't helping with daily letters."

"You don't seem used to writing them either." Professor Kale noted with a small frown, "How did you keep in touch with your mother during your adventure?"

"Phone. I used to call her three times a week." Ness's blank stare hardened into a glare as he grumbled, "But since wizards don't seem capable of adding _phone lines_ to their world."

Professor Kale laughed and nodded in agreement, "I hear you, my uncle _hated_ how medieval wizards were, always finding something to complain about when he was homesick and threatening to add modern technology to the school when he was attending Hogwarts."

"He was homesick as well?" Ness questioned, sounding a little surprised as Professor Kale nodded in agreement, "He was awful when he was missing home, couldn't focus, purposely blew things up during magic classes, wandered around the school grounds and distanced himself from other students before he could ignore the feeling." He glanced up at the ceiling which was covered in maps and mused, "I think PSI users are greatly affected by homesickness, don't know why though, I just remember my father talking about how he always had to write his uncle a letter twice a week since he attended a Muggle school."

"So… the reason behind my bitter and agitated thoughts are because…?"

"A lot of things, I mean you're from America which was much less… er… strict in certain situations, you're practically in a new world and have time to breath to actually realize the differences around you. Plus, being surrounded by students who are split into four different groups isn't helping since that's four different mind sets you're dealing with in a frustrating situation."

Professor Kale laughed and looked at Ness, "When my uncle found out he was a PSI user and not a wizard he was convinced that wizards spiked their food so they would only look at one answer for almost everything."

"One answer?"

"Sure, think about it, you only know one shield spell, right?"

Ness nodded.

"And yet no one's taught you any different types for say, hexes or stunning spells, it's just that shield spell and dodge. Seems sort of silly, doesn't it?"

"Very." Ness agreed, remembering the two types of shield he, Paula and Poo used depending on what their enemy favorite attack was. They also had to build them up to deflect large amounts of damage.

"Man… Wizards are very short sighted." Ness decided, "Even with their giant library of spells."

"Well, I could be wrong," Professor Kale admitted with a shrug, "I don't really favor wand combat, terrible at it actually, so I use my fists if it comes down to a fight."

"You sure? I pegged you as the guy who would attack with a telescope."

Professor Kale gasped in mock horror and exclaimed, "How did you know?" causing Ness to laugh.

"Jokes aside, how about we sort this fan mail for the others?" Professor Kale studied the mountain with a strained smile and said, "I'm sure the others would love to get some good news with the Yule ball happening."

"Don't remind me." Ness groaned as he pulled up a desk chair and started to sort, "I'm seriously considering skipping with all the rumors going on."

"Ah yes, rumors." Professor Kale mused as he went off on a slight tangent about someone rumored the world ending and Kale had been the only one smart enough to read the stars to realize that the world wasn't ending. Ness laughed as Kale huffed, "Then they had the nerve to call me a liar when I proved them wrong!" before he started to talk about Venus's worrying placement, grumbling about he hoped that the warnings of a loved one being sent to a watery grave was aimed for someone else before he asked Ness how Harry was doing and laughing as Ness recalled their attempts to find dates.

It was pretty nice to be focusing on just something that wasn't completely wizard related as Kale made the mistake of calling the New York Yankees Wankers, prompting Ness to launching into an explanation as they the wasted most of lunch trying to sort all the letters.

Ness really wish that lunch lasted a bit longer as he carefully stored Harry, Cedric, Flur and Victor's letters in his book bag, planning to pick up Adaliz and Alexander's during a free period before dinner since they had a bunch more from people rooting for the underdogs.

For the last stretch of classes Ginny shot him worried looks as he flunked Transfiguration with his usual smile and managed not to blow up his Confounded Confusion Potion (Much to Snape's displeasure.) and greeted Professor Trawaleny with a grin as she went on with her usual ramblings, talking about a pear of good fortune or something before class let out and they headed to dinner.

"You're in a good mood." Ginny noted, frowning as Ness briefly ignored her and went up to the Hufflepuff's table, ignoring the annoyed glares they sent him, "Hey, could you give these to Cedric?" Ness asked, pulling out Cedric's stack of letters and handing it to a boy who seemed around Cedric's age, the boy gave Ness a wary glare which widened into surprise as Ness chipperly answered the silent question, "It's fan mail from America! An American paper called the Mystic Informant talked about the Tri-Wizard tournament and their fanbase decided to send us letters."

"You're joking." The boy deadpanned as Ness grinned and waved good-bye before joining his fellow Gryffindors who were shooting him baffled looks, "Why'd you go and do that?" Henry Erand asked as Ness handed Harry his fan mail before keeping his eyes peeled for Victor and Flur who didn't seem to arrive yet.

"It was his mail." Ness answered with a happy shrug, "I shouldn't be hoarding it."

"Even though they've been throwing you and Harry under the bus?" Diana Rose questioned with slight disbelief.

"It was his mail." Ness repeated as he turned to Harry who was studying it in surprise, a small smile forming as he read a little kid's eager message and drew a picture of his scar with a small note of 'the source of all of Harry's awesome powers!'.

"The Mystic Informant sent us this?" Harry asked sounding a little amazed.

"Yea, I spent most of my lunch break chilling with Professor Kale and helping him sort it since he's a subscriber." Ness explained, happily filling his plate with steak, rolls and a couple vegetables as he resumed his search.

"Mystic Informant?" Hermione questioned as she studied a letter from an eager fan girl, "I've never heard of them."

"There an American paper." Ness explained, "I think they work up in Washington since they mentioned their baseball team during the sports page and some politics."

"American?" Ron looked a little uneasy as he stole a couple letters from Harry to read for himself, "These letters are all from American readers?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Ness questioned, smothering the urge to get defensive over his homeland. It must have slipped out either way since Ron quickly corrected himself, "It's just that American wizards aren't too careful about they publish or do since America's so free spirited in a sense, what if a muggle finds out about this?"

"Well, judging by the amount of kiddy mail, I'd say they just think it's just a goofy short the Mystic Informant made up or a reality TV created by us 'wacky' British people."

"They wouldn't believe that." Hermione protested, sounding a little worried about the muggle world finding out about them.

"Hermione, I grew up believing that the Kanto crew of Pokémon were eating jelly doughnuts when they were really Japanese rice balls. When it comes to other people's cultures, we pay more attention to the stereotypes TV shows us than the actual facts."

"You're joking." Ron exclaimed while Harry muttered, "They weren't jelly doughnuts?" and resumed eating dinner.

"Nope, if they say it's an over the top reality show then they'd probably believe it. Besides, none of the pictures moved." Which he was secretly thankful for.

"How'd they get permissions to come over here if they work in America?" Ron asked, "I mean, they _did_ interview you, right?"

"Yea, and speaking of interviews," Ness turned to Harry who glanced up, then straightened as he noticed the serious expression on his friend's face, "Harry, next time you talk to Chip and Lily, you have to be very careful about what you say."

"What happened?" Ginny asked, dreading the answer.

"Nothing too bad, we managed to avoid talking about the incident with Black with just mentioning that we had faced Dementors and got saved by a stranger but Harry went into a lot detail about his challenge, so did Adaliz and Alexander."

"How is that a bad thing?" Ron asked as Hermione frowned and looked at Harry, "They didn't do anything like that horrible Skeeter woman did, right?"

Harry shook his head and had a dumbfounded frown, "I don't really remember what I said, I know I answered their questions and gone a bit overboard but I just felt safe, like it was okay to spill my guts about the fear of getting killed by the Volcanic Curved Wing Dragon."

"Which started another article wondering what the heck the three schools were thinking with letting minors enter a deadly tournament." Ness stated, "Alexander and Adaliz both exclaimed that they never wanted to join but were forced in very passionate ways. Adaliz especially since she kept slipping into French and had to be told to slow down."

"How did you feel during the interview?" Ginny asked.

"Nervous, and I think at the start of the interview I felt something nudging me to open up and drift into another topic." He frowned as he tried to remember how he felt exactly before he sighed and said, "I kept my mouth shut for the most part, and they left me alone. They weren't pushy or anything they just let us talk without prompts."

"So, their either really good reporters, or there's something more to the story." Ginny murmured while Harry changed the topic, asking if Ness planned on going to the dance at all.

"I'll probably go, but won't like it." Ness answered after a moment of thought, taking note of the slightly relived look from his friends, "And I'll probably take Luna as my partner."

"Loony Lovegood?" Ron questioned in disbelief, "You're taking her?"

"Luna isn't loony, Ron." Ginny practically growled as Ness caught Luna's eye and waved hello at her, "Plus, she'd be better company since I actually know her." Ness added, "I usually go to school dances as 'just friends' with other girls who didn't get a date."

"Sounds like you already have your eye on someone back home then," Ginny teased, an evil little grin forming as Ness felt himself blush for some reason and found himself thinking about Paula, "Hey! Just because I don't like romance doesn't mean I can't be a gentleman!" Ness protested as Henry looked up and asked, "Ness has a girlfriend back home?" and squeaking when Ness pushed his plate away and rested his head on the table, "Forget you guys! I think I liked it when you were all avoiding me!"

"Hey, we had good reason Mr. Emo." Ginny retorted as Ron said, "Mate, you were like a walking zombie almost the entire day. I'd rather not get on Zombie Ness's bad side."

"Har-har." Ness dryly joked as Harry and Hermione smothered a laugh and sadly started talking about SPEW. It appeared that Hermione was trying to find the Castle Kitchens were the house elfs worked to try and convince them to ask for wages. Of course, the information about the castle kitchen's location was being withheld by Fred and George, which caused Ness to perk up and share a look with Ginny who was silently agreeing with his plan of harassing the twins for the information.

The first challenge hadn't really given them any information on the mystery other than the fact that Mr. Crouch had mysteriously fell ill after going over the room with the seven champions and then quickly recovered after disappearing. Of course, they couldn't confirm or deny this since none of them had seen where he had gone. Meaning that they were probably going to tail him at the next challenge—

"Hold on," Ness perked up and looked at Harry, "Harry, are any of the judges—besides the headmasters, attending the Yule Ball?"

"I believe so," Harry started when Hermione answered for him, "Of course they will, it's a public event connected to the Tri-wizard cup. The only official not attending is the Minister of Magic."

Ron frowned and pointed a potato at Ness, "Why do you ask? Worried about getting in trouble for having cold feet?"

"Just being noisy since I pretty much skipped school." Ness lied, an idea forming of how to watch Karkaroff and Mr. Crouch at the same time.

"So, you didn't hear the announcement of obligatory dance lessons?" Harry questioned.

"Wait what?"

"That would be a no." Ginny answered as Ness looked at Harry in horror and slight annoyance, "I know how to dance! I've been crowned the Cha-Cha Slide King three years in a row at my old school!"

"Why are people sliding and doing the Cha-Cha?" Ron questioned as Hermione wearily answered, "It's a muggle party dance." And gave Ness a firm glare, "Because, we need to learn how to dance like proper people, not crazy party goers."

"Buzzkills," Ness grumbled as he ate dinner and resumed scanning the Great Hall. Why did all of Ness's plans get shoved aside by school? They really needed to stop bringing in annoying school problems like that.

* * *

 **I still sort of see Pokemon's rice balls as jelly doughnuts despite knowing the truth... Also, Karkaroff's name can jump off a cliff. I always misspell it and end up going to the wiki to get the correct name.**


	21. Chapter 21, The Yule Ball

When the big day arrived everyone was prepared and had a date for the dance. Everyone spent their Christmas Eve morning and afternoon prepping for the dance tonight while enjoying the start of their winter break. Something all needed after being swamped with homework and tests.  
Ness spent his free time time reading comic books Tracey had sent him with Professor Kale, who enjoyed Ness's presence while he worked on test papers or homework assignments.

"So, excited for the dance?" Professor Kale asked in between doodling on some paper out of sheer boredom, "Not really," Ness admitted, turning the page to see what Super Man would do next against Lex Luthor and his robot of the week.

"Honestly, I'm more excited for getting some answers."

"About?"

"Just, anything, why me and a bunch of other underage wizards are involved and who entered us."

"Ah, the big question almost everyone's been asking."

Ness glanced up and spotted a new issue of Mystic Informer on Professor Kale's cluttered desk, "What about you? Found any interesting dance partners?"

The man slumped slightly and adjusted his glasses with a look of pure annoyance on his face, "I want to skip the bloody dance before I can make a fool of myself."

"Two left feet?"

"And easily tongue tied around pretty girls."

"Ouch."

"My friends relentlessly teased me about it." Kale said giving a dramatic sigh before he resumed his work, allowing the two to fall back into an easy silence Before dinner started, forcing Ness to join his classmates and endure the buzz of excited students eagerly chatting among themselves or mentally preparing themselves for the big night with their dates.

Ness was doing the latter while Ron grumbled something about needing to keep an eye on Alexander, Ginny's date for the night, causing the poor boy to cringe and look at Ness for help who sadly, couldn't give any at the moment since he had no idea how to properly handle Ron when he was annoyed or upset about something.

* * *

"Dude. We are literally wearing nightgowns over tuxedos." Ness complained, pulling at his satin red collar with disgust when he spotted Harry in a plain black dress robe and Ron's moth eaten, patch stained dress robe over a faded tuxedo.

"These aren't nightgowns." Ron argued, "Their dress robes!"  
Harry just kept his mouth shut as he admired Ginny's dress robe.

Which was just a spaghetti strap gown colored a light pearl red with small vibrant pink ribbons at the hem, forming swooping designs as Ginny fiddled with a pink satin ribbon belt, trying to adjust it so it didn't draw more attraction to her.

"Someone's dressing to impress." Ness teased, grinning as Ginny shot him a weary glare as Ron stiffened and shot Ginny a look.  
"One of these days," she muttered, pushing a bang of hair out of her eyes as Harry coughed and finally looked away, looking a little embarrassed.

"Where's Hermione?" Ness asked, glancing up toward the girl's dormitory as people filed out to collect their dates or to head to the ball.  
"She said not to wait up for her." Ginny explained, "She's fighting with her hair at the moment."

"To fancy for a ponytail?" Ness asked.

"Not in the dress she's wearing," Ginny smirked and nudged Ron, "Look likes she has a very important someone to impress tonight."  
Ness frowned as Harry sheepishly glanced down at his polished shoes while Ron stiffened, "Did you to get into a fight with Hermione or something?" Ness asked as they stepped outside and walked down the darken hall, the dim lights casting a soft glow on them as they followed the crowd down the first few flight of stairs.

"Ron may have asked her to be his date and offended her when he asked who she'd plan on taking." Harry explained.

"Sounds like someone else I know." Ness mused glancing at Ginny who shot him a glare and picked up the pace.

"Well, we have the Patil twins to pick up," Harry said moving toward a corridor with Ron, "See you inside Ness, Ginny."

"See ya," Ness said before he turned to Ginny, "Where are you meeting Alexander?"

"In front of the Great Hall doors, Luna?"

"Ravenclaw tower." Ness replied frowning slightly, "Uh… Where's the Ravenclaw tower at?"

"First floor, back door that leads to Hagrid's cabin but through the open hallway." Ginny explained, pointing down the grand staircase to a dimly lit hallway.

"Thanks!" Ness chirped, jumping over the trick stair and hurrying toward the tower where a girl with light blonde hair pulled into a French braid while her lavender star speckled ball gown glowed in the faint torchlight. She reminded Ness of a fairy queen waiting for something as the girl rocked on her equally lavender purple dress slippers and rubbed her bare arms.

Ness slowed down slightly and frowned when the girl spotted him and grinned in recognition, "Hello Ness!" she chirped, sounding wide awake as Ness tilted his head and managed a confused, "Hi…?"

"It's me! Luna!"

Oh, that made a lot of sense now that Ness thought about it, he blushed in embarrassment and said, "Sorry, I'm so used to you looking normal before, or actually sounding awake."

"I've never been to a dance with a boy before, or at any dance since I keep losing my slippers." Luna replied, glowing with excitement as she grabbed Ness's hand and dragged him to the Great Hall eager to see what the fuss was about.

"Whoa." Luna breathed as they pushed open the double oak doors which normally lead to the Great Hall only to find a winter wonderland themed dance hall in its place, the windows were replaced with giant open doors that lead outside onto a small garden pathway lightly dusted with snow, the always moving celling was still and almost impossible to see as twinkling snow crystal decorated chandlers illuminated the dance floor were other students waiting for the light yet slow music to pick up into a dance number as they mingled with other classmates or stood off to the side.

Ice sculptures of snowmen, Santa Claus who wasn't wearing his traditional red coat or, pretty much anything Santa Claus related, (Europe's version of Santa was weeerrriid.) couples frozen mid turn as they danced to a song only they knew and a couple smaller statues of fairies stationed beside the concert area where instruments were playing themselves, playing a soft, formal tune as they waited to spring into something more lively.

Off to the side were an array of tables all decorated with gold plates, ice blue tablecloths and various centerpieces on the tables. Ness easily spotted the Champion's table since it was covered in sliver table clothes and pushed together to make room for the seven champions, the headmasters and the judges.

"Are all balls like this?" Ness wondered aloud as he and Luna made their way to the grand table set up and sat beside Cedric Diggory and his date, Cho Chang with Flur and a boy Ness didn't recognize seated across from them.  
"Sup?" Ness greeted as Luna waved hello at Cho who returned it before looking at her plate then an illuminated menu with pictures of snowflakes on the side.

Ness was about to do the same when Luna nudged him and pointed toward the third table where two boys in red suits that looked fit for a prince, breezily stating "Looks like Ginny's having a fun time."  
Ness followed her gaze and bit back a laugh as Ginny sat stiffly and tried her best to ignore her older brother.

Percy who was oddly sitting next to Mr. Bagman while Alexander nervously struck up a conversation with a bored Victor whose date was missing.

"Looks like Crouch got sick." Ness noted biting back a laugh as he heard Flur mutter something, "Probably from all this heavy food we've been having." And earn a nod of agreement from her starstruck date.  
"Speaking of food, how the heck do you order?" Ness asked, turning his menu over and frowning at the lack of instructions on how to order. He really wanted to try a Garlic Marinated steak with a forest salad but of course, he couldn't.  
Until he glanced up and saw Dumbledore look up from his menu and say, "Pork chops." Without a care in the world and smiling as pork chops appeared on his plate.  
"…Well, that's one way to reduce wait time." Ness stated as the other confused students quickly followed the Hogwarts headmaster's lead. Luna ordered an odd combination of Beef Bourgugnon and Ricotta Gnocchi looking pleased that she had managed to mix French and Italian cusion together.

Flur shot daggers at Luna for most of the night when she spotted Luna's Beef Gnocchi but Luna of course, didn't care as she rambled on about a Moon bear that would bring good luck to those who spotted them on a full moon and bad look to those who saw them on a new moon.  
Ness happily asked question about the unbelievable animal until Cedric cleared his throat, looking a little nervous.

"Something wrong Cedric?" Ness asked as he spotted Adaliz eating dinner with a Hufflepuff and chatting with Harry who was trying his best to reply while looking at Bagman, who was seated by Karkaroff who didn't seem to please about the agreement as he talked to Hagrid, Madam Maxine's date about some monster.

"No, just er, wondering about something." Cedric started when Flur's date interrupted him, asking how he got the idea to use Ventus Jinx against the sluggish Dewdrop Dragon.

"It was easy once I realized it used breath base attacks." Cedric recalled, forcing a smile to hide his irritation as Cho pressed for more information, effectively trapping Cedric into a recount of the fight and how he managed to do it.  
Ness frowned since whatever Cedric had to ask sounded urgent but decided to wait, maybe he could get Cedric to tell him once they were out on the dance floor and able to sneak away without any trouble, since it didn't seem like he was going to be able to sneak away now. Not with how Madam Maxine and Karkaroff were sweeping the table with suspicious looks every now and then, probably wanting to ensure that their champions weren't letting any secrets slip about the next challenge.

Just how determine to win were they? Ness wondered as he resumed eating his dinner and did a couple scans of the table himself, grinning when he saw Hermione beside Victor, looking proud of herself as she and Ginny chatted and ignored Percy who was talking to Alexander about something dull since the usually nervous boy was tapping his hand against his chair in an irritated fashion.

"Ness," he glanced up at Flur who had her lips pursed about something, "Yes Flur?" he questioned as Luna glanced up from a forkful of noodles coated in meat and spaghetti sauce, "You're from America, correct?"  
Ness nodded and jokingly said, "You have an alien among you guys." Earning a snort from Luna while Cho and Cedric shot him slightly amused looks.  
"Are your parents from around here? New England, Paris, Berlin?" Flur questioned.  
"No, not that I know of." Ness replied, frowning in confusing at the question, "There both from America. Why do you ask?"  
"Oh, is this about that rumor Flur?" Cho asked, quickly hinting at what the French girl was asking.

"What rumor?" Ness started to ask when Flur's date spoke over him in realization, "Ohhh, that one about American wizards almost not existing."  
Ness looked at Luna for confirmation, but she looked surprised by this news, "Hold on, the United States were in the Wizard World Cup," Cedric pointed out, "So they do exist."

"So, I've heard," Flur reluctantly agreed, "But I've also heard and read about wizards from America being much weaker in terms of power." She looked down at Ness with a small frown, "That's why you used your 'baseball' bat against your dragon, correct?"

Ness nodded deciding to go along with it and replied, "I'm terrible at magic, so I just focused on relying on my muggle strengths to win."

"You got really lucky then," Cho noted, "I thought you were a goner when the Spiked Tail Mountain Dragon tried to roast you alive!"

"Yea, I got really lucky then," Ness said before he forced himself to resume eating as questions started to rise. Was Belinda from America? Were there actually wizards in America? He'd always figure it was just Europe that had wizards and super natural creatures.

Then again, given the yearlong witch hunt in Massachusetts wizards probably did exist, or were seen enough to put the idea of witches being real into muggles heads.  
 _"As usual, more questions and little answers."_ Ness thought, biting back a groan as he decided to focus on something less stressful, like watching Harry squirm as he tried to talk to his date without boring her to death.

He was probably relieved when a band called the Weird Sisters stepped onto a polished stage and started to play.

Signaling the champions to get up with their date and head for the middle of the floor, "I offer no apologies if I step on your feet." Ness shamelessly said as he and Luna awkwardly bowed/curiosity to each other and got into position, feeling everyone's eyes on them as the music started and they tried to dance to the music.

"Don't worry, I have two left feet." Luna assured him, proving her point as they turned and she stepped on his foot.

"And yet you have a right shoe on," Ness teased, trying his best to focus on the rhythm and their steps as they danced, awkwardly trying to follow along the weirdly classical beat which didn't seem to be classic music given the weird instruments the Weird sisters were playing. Judging by how unhappy they were with the music it was clear that they were used to playing something a bit faster than this slow song.

 _"Please let this end."_ Ness begged, feeling a little unnerved as he and Luna spun and caught a glimpse of the watching crowd who were standing up, forming a loose circle around them and watching with awe at the Champions beauty and grace.

Yea, this was nothing like his school dances, which had people either sitting, goofing off, pretending to be teenagers and having make out sessions while party songs mixed in with a couple lovey dovey slow songs blared from the stage, causing the entire gymnasium to pulse and vibrate with youthful energy and music.

This had a stifling sense of elegance and formal, the fancy décorations almost ordering him to try and fit in while the music filled their air with a grown-up aura, one strong enough to make everyone watched in a hushed and polite manner.

It felt like eons before the song ended, allowing the younger Champions to bow or curtsey to their partner and look for a small escape route to hide from the watching eyes. Of course, that plan failed since another song started up, slightly faster than the first and brought the rest of the dancers to the dance floor, some of them swapping partners with the Champions to get five minutes of the spotlight.

Ness quickly lost Luna in the crowd of swirling dresses- Dress robes worn by witches as he found himself dancing with a Ravenclaw girl who wasn't as forgiving as Luna was when it came to him stepping on her foot, "Sorry," Ness offered with a sheepish smile as they broke apart and went to find new dance partners.

Or, escape from the dance floor, "Are all wizard dances so formal?" Ness asked, sitting beside Selvis who shot him a glare and spat, "Did you just realize that?"

"Selvis, I come from America, which has a bunch of upbeat songs and goofy love songs. When we do formal, there's always a bit of fun mixed in to liven up the party at the end." Ness deadpanned looking around the table and waving to the Slytherins and their dates.

For some reason, Selvis's date was a fifth year Ravenclaw who seemed quite pleased with herself despite being completely outnumbered by the Slytherin girls.

"Hey!" Ness chirped, spinning around to properly face them as he recognized a Slytherin from Potions- Aaron Stone and a couple older Slythrin members.

"How are you guys enjoying the dance so far?"

"It was going great until we got two buffoons at our table." a boy curtly said, shooting Selvis's date and Ness a glare. The girl merely smiled as Selvis groaned and rested his head on his elbows, mumbling something about the universe hating him for some reason.

"Ah yes, the joys of being an outsider." Ness joked before he turned to Selvis's date with a grin, giving a small bow as he said, "The infamous Ness Earthbound at your service miss!"

"Emma Crowdia, the only person who can seem to get a date with a Slytherin," Emma joked reaching out to shake Ness's hand when Selvis slapped it away hissing, "Don't touch the American blight!"

"Hey Selvis,"

Selvis shot him a glare then yelped as Ness poked him and quickly got up gleefully calling, "Have fun you guys!" as he disappeared into the crowd, snickering at the quiet fuming Selvis was doing as he tried to murder Ness with death glares.

"And now, to find Luna," Ness started when he bumped into someone, "Sorry! Off in la la la land." Ness apologized looking up and pausing as he realized he had bumped into Percy who was looking mournfully at his spilled drinks.

"Percy! Nice to see you!" Ness said with a small grin, as he tried to figure out who Percy was bringing wine to, "Bringing Mr. Crouch something to drink?"

The answer was an obvious no as Percy puffed up with slight pride and looked at Ness with his glasses slipping slightly down his nose, giving him a haughty expression.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Crouch is sick, probably due to all the stress from the World Cup fiasco and has asked me to take his place instead."

"He's sick?" Ness questioned, hoping his expression was surprise.

"Didn't I just say that?"

"Yes, but when I saw him at the first trial he seemed perfectly healthy. Is there some sort of bug going around or something?" Percy pursed his lips, clearly not happy with this question prompting Ness to shrug it off and say, "Well, I hope he gets better. See ya Perce!"

"It's Percy." Percy grumpily corrected as Ness headed back to the Champions' table to get some water, a little relieved to see that Luna was happily chatting with Ginny and a confused Alexander who was doing his best to follow along the conversation.

"Oh! There you are Ness!" Luna chirped grinning as Ness sat beside her, "We were just talking about the Mono Pixies!"

"I still do not understand them." Alexander said, sending Ness a pleading look, "Why do they steal the color of winter when it's clearly just mother nature performing her job?"

"Because, they're mother nature's helpers." Luna explained, "Like the Guardian trees!"

"The… 'Whomping Willow' is a guardian tree?" Alexander questioned.

"No, it's just a grumpy old tree." Ness replied taking a sip from his cup as he watched the couples dance under the snow colored lights. "You know… as pretty as this is, I was sort of expecting something more," Ness admitted.

"More? This is a lifetime event!" Alexander exclaimed.

"And so far, all it reminds me of is a formal party with fancy decor." Ness replied, "Nothing too _amazing_."

"Says the guy who proclaimed that the first game of Qudditch last year was playing in Hurricane weather." Ginny retorted earning a glare and a curt, "They. Were." from Ness before he stood up, "I'm going to go for a walk before I get completely bored. Coming Luna?"

"Sure! Maybe I can find Sliples!" Luna exclaimed earning a groan from Alexander who still had no idea what Luna was talking about. Although that was probably for the better given how much information Luna had on these exotic creatures.

"Looks like the Weird Sisters are picking up the pace," Luna noted as they walked past the stage to see the performers slowly get into their music as it sped up completely losing the classical edge to it.

"I wonder if they can play the Cha-Cha Slide…" Ness started to muse when they bumped into someone, "Sorry!" Ness chirped while Luna muttered something about a Pushu creature being nearby.

"No, no, it was my mistake," the someone- Victor Krum exclaimed waving his apology away, "I was busy looking for 'Ermione."

"You mean, Hermione?" Ness questioned with a slight frown as Victor nodded.

"Have you seen her?"

"Not since dinner." Luna answered, "We've sort of been lost in the crowd."

Victor gave a slight dejected "Oh," and turned to leave, only pausing when Ness asked, "Did you need to ask her something? If so we can give her the message if we see her."

"O-oh, it's nothing." Victor replied with a slight blush, "I just… didn't wish to seem rude to my date."

"Dude, I got myself separated from Luna, invaded the Slytherin table and is now considering bribing the Weird Sisters into playing an American song," Ness deadpanned, "You're doing waaaaay better than me at the moment."

Victor slowly blinked at him before a slow smile formed, "You Americans have such a weird sense of humor." he commented before he resumed his search for Hermione.

"...Now I really want to know where Hermione is." Luna admitted as they watched Victor disappear into the crowd, where a bunch of girls quickly swarmed him, hoping to get a dance from the Qudditch player.

"Yea… It's not like her to just disappear during such a formal event." Ness said, a slight frown appearing on his face, "I mean, she's head nerd around here!"

"...Nerd?"

"Never mind, let's just go find the disappearing alien known as Hermione." Luna bit back a laugh as the dove into the crowd, trying to catch a hint of Hermione's bubbly pink dress as they weaved around the dancers.

"Now I'm really starting to think Hermione's an alien." Ness muttered as they turned their attention outside, heading for one of the gaping doorways when they bumped into Harry and Ron who jumped in surprise.

"Great, now we have _three_ dates to find." Ness said, throwing his hands up in mock exaggeration as he quickly realized that Harry and Ron were without their dates.

"We don't need help finding our dates!" Ron spluttered, his ears turning a bright red as Luna mused, "I wonder how many other people lost their dates tonight."

"Wait, three? Who else is missing a date?" Harry questioned, nervously looking over his shoulder as Ron folded his arms in a huff.

"Victor Krum, he lost Hermione somehow." Ness explained peering around them to see the possible monster that was freaking Harry and Ron out, "Did you guys get in a fight or something?" he asked when he couldn't see anyone.

"Let's just say we learned a lot of things we probably shouldn't have." Harry answered.

"Like?" Luna pressed, peering around Harry then over him to see who was the culprit.

"Like Snape and Karkaroff being buddy-buddy." Ron replied, causing Luna and Ness to exchange silent looks of worry before they focused on Harry and Ron, "You two know something about this?" Harry questioned as the two Thirds pushed Harry and Ron back outside and into a corner, the cold winter winds gleefully blowing snowflakes into their hair as they huddled for warmth and began to speak in hushed whispers.

"How can you tell Snape and Karkaroff were friends?" Luna asked, her excited expression which had effectively destroyed her dreamy expression sharpening slightly.

"They weren't 'lively' about it." Ron admitted, "But, they both had the mark."

"...You mean a gang tattoo?" Ness questioned since he wasn't sure Ron exactly meant by a mark. Ron frowned in confusion as Harry hurriedly explained, "Death eater mark, all of Voldemort's servants get it when they swear allegiance to him or something. We knew Snape was a Death Eater but Karkaroff…" Harry trailed off as Luna mused, "Huh, we knew Karkaroff was a Death Eater, but I never suspected Snape."

"Same, although that probably explains why he hates your guts Harry." Ness pointed out.

"Hold on, how did you know about Karkaroff?" Ron asked, "We just learned about it today!"

"And we knew about it since I became a champion." Ness explained with a small shrug, "A slytherin boy was muttering about it to his friend during Potions' class, saying how cool it was to go to Durmstrung with a anti Muggle born headmaster."

"He was also arrested and gained a looooot of enemies thanks to ratting out his fellow Death Eaters." Luna added, "We figured he might be the person who entered you and Ness in the tournament."

"That would make a lot of sense." Harry grimly said, "Especially since Karkaoff was whispering something about the mark activating for some reason."

"Looks like Voldemort _did_ find a Phoenix Down." Ness scowled slightly as everyone, but Harry shot him baffled looks, "Revival item in a video game." Ness deadpanned as Luna offered, "Or, we could just have a new Voldemort."

Harry and Ness looked at Ron for confirmation. The redhead shrugged his shoulders, "All I know about You-Know-Who comes from the stories mum and dad told me, how he was a powerful dark wizard and stuff. I don't _think_ we could have a new You-Know-Who since he was one of a kind."

"What if he had an apprentice?" Harry questioned earning a frown from Ness. So far, all he's heard about Voldemort just painted him as a giant bully who couldn't stand Muggleborns. Would a jerk like him, who was killed by a mere baby have an apprentice?

"No, Voldemort was the top dog when he was alive. So, he probably wouldn't pass on his teachings unless he was desperate. And judging by how we're _just_ getting the news of Death Eaters stirring up small trouble means that Voldeyworts was MIA or something." Ness finally said.

"So... that means he's somehow alive." Luna murmured, frowning as Harry and Ron exchanged a look of worry, "You don't think that ritual Professor Quirrell performed actually worked, do you?"

"Who is Professor Quirrell, and what ritual?" Ness started to ask when Mr. Bagman appeared his cheeks a rosy red as he spotted Harry. "Ah! Just who I wanted to see!" Bagman exclaimed, his voice a little slurred from heavy drinking. Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise then muffled a groan as he was dragged back inside the hall to have a little talk about the upcoming challenge.

"So… the ritual-," Ness tried when Ron's date appeared and shot him an evil eye, prompting Ron to shoot them an apologetic glance before he went inside to appease her.

"Does Professor Quirrell ring a bell to you Luna?" Ness asked groaning as the girl shrugged her shoulders, "He might have been mentioned by the older students in my first year but after the Chamber of Secrets opened and we had a celebrity as a teacher no one mentioned him." she rubbed her hands and added, "I do know he was a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher but that's it."

"Time to bother Selvis then." Ness sighed as a gust of cold winter air encouraged them to go back inside to the now wild music playing.

"I don't think we'll have a lot of time," Luna said, pointing to the clock which was near the midnight.

"Well, we'll just have to make time-," Ness started when they bumped into someone, "Where do these people come from?" Ness grumbled before he quickly apologized and saw who he bumped into, "Oh! Cedric, lost Cho?" Ness questioned.

"No, not really she wanted to take a break from dancing." Cedric admitted with a faint blush before he snapped out of it, his posture straightening as he quickly looked around, "Listen Ness, when you get a chance, tell Harry to open the egg under some water."

"Under water? Why-,"

"Just, tell him to try it, alright?" Cedric urged, "As a thank you for the dragon hint."

Ness was about to ask why Cedric just didn't tell Harry himself but then he saw another crowd of people around the poor boy and changed course, "Sure! I'll tell him right after the dance." Ness promised, making a mental note to relay the information to Adaliz and Alexander as Cedric moved on to get drinks.

"So, it is a challenge underwater." Luna mused as they hurried to the last table Ness had seen Selvis, "Which leaves limited options for everyone."

"I wonder what challenge you could possibly have underwater?" Ness murmured. The only thing that came to mind from their last Boundless brainstorm session was searching for treasure surrounded by deadly sea creatures which would give them their final hint for the last challenge.

But, was that even possible? Then again… this _was_ a school for wizards which apparently encouraged deadly challenges and taught deadly curses. So that probably wasn't off the mark.

 _"Why can't wizards just have oh, I dunno. A NORMAL sports school festival instead of crazy challenges?"_ Because that would make sense and wizards didn't make sense. Just chaos.

They arrived at Selvis's table which only had Emma who was reading a book and humming contently to herself. "Did Selvis ditch you or something?" Ness asked, happily sitting down and watching Luna as she inspected the underside of the table for Pine Woodrats (Don't ask.) before she to, sat down.

"He didn't want his friends to be 'tainted' by the Ravenclaw." Emma replied with a small mischievous grin, "So, he's off 'finding drinks.'"

"Which means he's probably lurking listening in on people's conversation." Ness said, leaning back to try and catch a glimpse of Selvis before he turned back to Emma, slowly realizing that she was at least a fifth year.

"Hey Emma, do you know Professor Quirrell?" Ness asked a hopeful smile on his face as Luna added, "He was a Defense Against the Dark arts teacher."

"Quirrell? Why do you want to know about him?" Emma asked with a small frown, "He's dead."

The room seemed to quiet greatly around them despite the loud music visibly causing the goblets and empty plates to shudder, "Dead?" Ness repeated as Luna asked, "How did he die?"

"According to Dumbledore, he was trying to find the secret of the school which was hidden on the third and guarded by some horrible killer monster." Emma started, her polished nails tapping the cover of her book. Charms of the Ages.

"No one's really sure _what_ happened, but we do know that Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and oddly enough Neville Longbottom, are the only people who know what happened to him."

"Was he involved in anything...shady?" Luna questioned, gleefully dropping her voice as she glanced around, trying to see if anyone was listening in.

"I'm not sure…" Emma admitted with an annoyed frown, "Apparently he was involved by several incidents happening around the school, a troll attack, Potter's broom going out of control or something and killing a unicorn for its blood."

Luna's eyes widened in horror as Ness asked, "Unicorns are real?" then face palmed at the obvious answer, "Of course magical fairy tale horses are real. It makes sense at Hogwarts." he grumbled earning a laugh from Emma, "I know, it's mind boggling at all the magical creatures that used to _just_ be fairy tale creatures."

"You didn't know either?" Ness asked frowning in disbelief as Emma nodded and whispered with a twinkling smile, "I'm a muggleborn."

"How on earth did you bribe Selvis to take him?" Luna asked with clear disbelief in her voice.

"He didn't know until after he pestered me into being his date." Emma said with a smug grin before she changed the subject, "Now why are you two trying to find out about Professor Quirrell?"

"Just wondering since he was some sort of Death Eater." Ness said, hoping his fib was believable as Emma sent him a scrutinizing look before she brightened slightly and scoffed, "Quirrell wasn't a Death Eater, he was merely a bullied kid looking for power in the wrong place."

"Which got him killed." Ness deadpanned.

"Yup, Harry and his friends confronted him and had to kill him in self-defense," Emma finished glancing up as the music stopped and Dumbledore took the stage to end the ball, "About time," Emma sighed, "I've been dead on my feet all day."

The closing of the ball was bright as the ornaments above exploded in bright balls of soft snow colored light.

Leading the way toward the stairwell as everyone prepared for bed. Their minds ablaze with the 'magical' night and the air filled with chatter wishing the Yule Ball could have kept going.

Ness tuned them out as he mulled over Emma's explanations about Professor Quirrell. Something wasn't right with Emma's story, but he wasn't sure what. He had no idea what Unicorn blood did exactly or what he had been chasing that had been his ultimate demise by a ground of First Years.

Actually, why was Harry even involved in the first place? Had he found something out about Quirrell? Or, was it just his destiny to be involved in every mess at Hogwarts?

"Just how many secrets is Hogwarts hiding?" Ness murmured as he and Luna said goodbye and headed to their respective common rooms.

* * *

 **You know, I thought writing about the Yule Ball would be easy since I went to a school dance once and read about them in a bunch books, but then I remembered that balls were much more fancy and that there was actually an order to this ball, meaning I had a loose guide line to follow. Plus, my brilliant idea of putting chapter 21 in google docs so I could work on it during school backfired thanks to the weird enter spacing google docs had when I copy-pasted it back into the main document and the weird pauses that happened when I tried to write on my school computer.**

 **Oh well, happy Halloween everyone!**


	22. Chapter 22, A Short Quest

With the Yule Ball lost in the past, many students were enjoying the new year and winter break before being thrown back into the busy life of a young wizard or witch by goofing off and trading stories with friends.

It wasn't a time for Third and Fourth years to be sneaking around the castle far from the prying eyes of other students and having secret meetings that may prevent life or death events. And it certainly wasn't the time to spoil the jolly mood of gifts or holiday spirit with dark thoughts revolving around a certain headmaster.

A couple days after the Yule Dance and the festive event of Christmas morning. (Which felt oh so stale without his family.) The members of Boundless had reluctantly agreed to allow Harry, Hermione and Ron to attend their sacred meetings after realizing that they had no real information on Quirrell or Voldemort. Other than the ground facts of what happened before they started attending Hogwarts.

In return for a brief, disturbing history lesson of what happened through year 1 and 2 the Boundless explained their theories and motives believing that the person who entered Harry and Ness's name in the goblet was either Invisible person, someone connected to Mr. Crouch and Mad Eyed Moody.

They quickly focused on Mr. Crouch when Harry recalled their first trip into the kitchen. Where they found Dobby, the house elf who used to belong to the Malfoys and a drunk Winky who was barely able to work let alone focus. All they could get out of her was that Mr. Crouch needed her despite the abuse she had faced from her old owner.

Hermione crisply explained how Winky had flatly refused to believe that Mr. Crouch was in the wrong for firing her right on the spot and kept sobbing about how Crouch was going to be lost without her and able to get into trouble.

Something Selvis noted odd since Barty Crouch was a grown man who had no problem taking care of himself, or so it seems when they recalled his bouts of sickness.

"Starting to get the feeling that the Crouch family is seriously messed up." Ness had murmured prompting Selvis to gleefully reveal his grove of gossip around Crouch, from his heartless display of throwing his own son to the Dementors after being found out as a Death Eater to the death of his wife.

"He's hiding something." Selvis gleefully finished.

"Or, he's a Death Eater himself." Luna offered before they talked about Cedric's clue, which had something to do with saving an item held close to ones' heart from the grasps of singers who could not be understood above ground confirming the Boundless theories of the second challenge being underwater as well as a worrying statement of the champions only having an hour to retrieve their cherished item.

Ness found this a bit hard to believe given the freezing weather they would face in February if they were forced to swim.

Ginny mused that it was probably going to be held above water behind a maze of water while Selvis pointed out that Ness had nothing to really fear since his cherished items were in another continent and hard to reach, meaning he could relax for a bit.

Harry could only share hopeful looks with his friends that Ginny was indeed right, after all, they had face firsthand the odd side of wizardry.

After that meeting, they agreed to search the castle for any more clues that would point them to the right direction behind who was the spy. They couldn't confront anyone without evidence after all.

The girls decided to head to the kitchen, to try and cox Winky into talking while the boys minus Selvis who quickly gave himself a reason of having a huge load of homework for messing up a question in potions decided to look in the library to research magical objects, scampering off before Harry and Ron could question how a Ravenclaw could fall so behind.

Mostly about the Goblet of Fire and, anything that would allow a dead man to live longer in hopes of disproving their Voldemort theory.

"So…" Ron started, struggling to keep himself awake as he read a book about The Wonderous Wonders of Charms and You, "Did anyone read Rita's latest piece in the papers?"

"She wrote something?" Ness glanced up from his book of, The Gauntlet of Rules which so far, had nothing helpful on the Goblet of Fire, "Is it another conspiracy theory about me and Harry?"

"No, it's about Hagrid." Ron dropped his voice as Harry looked up with a nervous frown, "She didn't find out about…?"

"Somehow, she did, and us talking in the corridor about Snape and Karkroff but she barely mentioned the fact that they were death eaters for some reason."

Ness snorted and turned the faded page, "Guess she grew tired of us for once."

"No, it's because Hagrid's part giant!" Ron hissed causing Ness to glance up, "…And?" he questioned not really understanding what was so bad about that other than Hagrid's privacy being invaded and shown to the world, "He's still a good teacher. Sure, he has problems with being a bit too hands on when it comes to certain monsters, but his classes are fun."

Ron shot him a weary look and muttered something under his breath, "Giants, are vicious, mindless brutes in our society Ness. There tribes focus solely on power and wealth."

"Sounds like humans." Ness pointed out, "Just bigger."

"They live in caves and kill each other daily."

"Humans, just cavemen." Ness resumed reading while Ron shot him a frustrated look, "How can you be so calm about this?! Hagrid might get fired!"

"First, I live in America, the country of huge diversity and different ideals on how it should work. Second, Dumbledore wouldn't fire Hagrid based on race, the only thing he has to worry about are his lessons and the helicopter parents."

"The what?" Ron questioned looking to Harry for help. "Parents who hover over their child's well-being and don't really let them do much." Harry answered, "There probably writing Hagrid a bunch of hate mail as we speak to 'protect' their children."

"That's a thing?"

"Yup," Ness turned another page and brightened, "Finally, I found a page on the Goblet of Fire!" his find was rewarded with a loud shush from the Librarian prompting him to shoot her an apoplectic grin before he quietly read out the entry.

"The Goblet of Fire is a somewhat sentient being, being nearly impossible to trick or befuddle. It's main purpose is to set up tournaments, mostly the Tri-Wizard Cup and select the tournament's champions/players." He frowned, turned the page then threw his hands up, "And it just ends." He sighed, "Meaning back to square one."

"I'm starting to hate magic." Harry grumbled as Ron banged his head against the book he was reading, earning another shush and a steely glare.

"There's no one here but us." Ness muttered, then he paused and actually looked around, noticing Neville reading a book about plants he seemed intrigued by something and nearly crashed into a door frame as he slowly left the library.

"Okay, so there's barely anyone here." He corrected, "But still!"

"Well whatever the case is, let's just finish our search before dinner starts." Harry said, fighting a yawn of his own as he changed his focus to a book about water spells, "Maybe the girls have better luck."

Of course, the girls didn't have any luck thanks to Hermione who apparently had been secretly trying to free the House Elves by leaving knitted objects around the tower and had spoken a bit too loudly for their liking about wages and vacation days.

"The only thing remotely useful that we found out from Winky is that Crouch may or may not be in the right state of mind." Ginny explained during dinner, making sure to shoot Hermione venomous glares as the girl stiffly ate her dinner, "Luna had managed to make her loosen up a bit in-between bothering the House elves about hexes they might have found during their daily rounds around the castle when _someone_ decided to stand on a soap box."

"They need help!" Hermione protested scowling as Ginny and Ron hissed, "No they do not!" while Harry and Ness shared weary looks before hoping that Selvis had somehow found something out.

It took him a month before Selvis actually had anything interesting to give them but, Ness had to admit it was a good piece of information and explained why Snape had given him the evil eye during Potions that day.

"Someone broke into Snape's potion storage cabinet!" Selvis practically exploded the moment everyone was in the Boundless club room, "They stole Gillyweed!"

"Gillyweed?" everyone minus the resident magic geniuses questioned before looking at said geniuses for an explanation, who bluntly informed them that Gillyweed allowed to user to breath underwater for a certain amount of time but was very hard to find out in the wild or to cultivate in gardens.

"So, who did it?" Ness asked.

"No one knows! But I saw Snape and Mad Eyed Moody having an argument about it." Selvis replied, doing his best not to give Harry a malicious grin as he glanced at the boy wonder, "Apparently, Snape blames Potter for the disappearance and Mad Eyed Moody wasn't going to let him interrogate him for 'pointless reasons' after pointing out how anyone could have waltzed in and stolen it."

"And here I thought I was Mad Eyed Moody's favorite." Ness jokingly lamented. They ignored him as Luna frowned and murmured, "Why would someone steal Gillyweed a month before the Tournament? Why not the day before?"

"Especially since it would draw so much attention to the champions." Ginny added, "What normal student would steal Gillyweed and leave?"

"A champion, who Snape believes to be Harry for some reason." Selvis finished as the trio swapped worried looks, probably having a hand in Snape's accusation of Harry being responsible.

"Harry, have you…?" Hermione started when Harry shook his head no, "I haven't received anything yet, maybe it was a fluke?"

"Or, their bidding their time to cast off suspicion." Selvis offered, "Although… Who would even _have_ access to Professor Snape's office? It's locked up tight when he's not there!"

They mulled that over and shared a look, "So far, all I can think of is an ingenious student or, a teacher who knows about hexes and protection charms." Ness admitted.

"Goody, another mystery to solve a month before the big event." Ginny sighed as Luna changed the topic, asking about Harry and Ness's game plans for the second challenge.

They of course didn't have one, (Ness sort of did but wasn't too sure if his plan would even work.) and spent the rest of the afternoon wondering why Mad Eyed Moody would possibly steal the Gillyweed for one of the champions if he was working for Voldemort.

Luna and Selvis bluntly offered poison as the reason before Hermione quickly pointed out that Gillyweed had to be eaten whole to work properly and that the slime it secreted would make it hard for the poison to properly intoxicate their victim and would at least give them a minor effect of the poison used.

"I hate this school." Ness groaned as they headed for dinner and prepared to study for an upcoming quiz, "Why can't everything be hard but have an answer instead of shoving more problems in our face?"

"Because, magic." Ginny bluntly answered.

* * *

 **So firstly, a HUGE apology for not updating for a month (Maybe even more...T_T) and for much, much slower updates that will happen in the future, as I am struggling with writing PIH. (Psychic in Hogwarts.) So, after banging my head for an full hour of trying to figure out a proper way to explain why I'm having trouble, (I have this bad habit of needing to explain EVERYTHING going on in my writing process since I'm afraid it's to obscure to connect to something else and make the main point get lost.) I'm just gonna try to be blunt and say it out right.  
**

 **First- I've outgrown Harry Potter. Not in a 'I'm done because I've know about this for ages and wish it would die' sort of outgrown , but out of the 'OMG THIS IS SO COOL I WISH I CAN GO TO WIZARDING SCHOOL.' outgrown since I'm a teenager who is actually experiencing being in a official school setting, old enough to realize that the 'magic' behind reading what's going on a wizarding school has been ripped away since we almost NEVER see any school activities that isn't plot related or inadvertently important to the plot and because I read a fanfic which makes it very hard for me to try and beat around the bush when suspecting Dumbledore as a villain (And a possibly an accomplish to murder for hiring such awful DA teachers.)**

 **Second-I'm terrible when it comes to beating around the bush. I forget what I'm doing or planning very easily and have to be careful about dropping hints since I may forget it from a new idea of what can happen next. So having work with a book where everything informational and helpful is spread out through a school year is hard since I'm working with bits and pieces of a bigger picture no one but the main characters seem to see. Hence why a big part is just Ness trying to figure out why he's here since I don't have a lot of ideas of lulls that aren't pointless to the story. Selvis was supposed to help with this since the Slytherin's have connections thanks to their parents, but since he's the same year as Ness and I wrote him as a sneak it's sort of hard to glean information to use properly since he's still learning about it as well.**

 **Third- Short term writing goals. I'm terrible at long term goals and don't really plan for them, when I accepted I didn't fully realize that I would need to write all the book events up from Prisoner of Azkaban which turned my simple request into a long winded journey with little information of where to go besides have Ness in the story. I have a better idea of what I want and how to accomplish Ness's first year goals but its a lot harder for me to deal since I work better with short term goals in what I want to happen in the book.**

 **Fourth-Music, I'm listening to music almost 24/7 not just to block out my little brother but to get new ideas, for example, if I listen to something Zelda related I'll get an idea for something I want to happen in my Zelda fanfic, listen to Mario and I'll start thinking up gender bent ideas which make no sense. It keeps me going when I'm writing since the song I'm listening to fits with the scene I'm writing. Most of the time. Harry Potter's soundtrack isn't something I really listen to since I never watched the movies, played only one game and found the soft orchestra soundtrack annoying to listen to. Earthbound's soundtrack is a bit easier to listen to, but it just sends me into the future of events instead of the current event.**

 **Finally- Distractions. I have a lot of downtime and stay on top of my homework, giving me a lot of time to work with my hobbies, however if I run into a roadblock where I have no clue where to go from the corner I wrote myself in I either, jump to another story and focus on that, play video games and forget or whittle time away by watching youtube videos in my attempt to find fitting music or a funny video. Distractions aren't so bad if I'm inspired or focused since I'll keep typing away to keep the ideas firmly in place since I'll forget where I was going once I stop, but since PIH is a stop and start sort of story for me it's much harder for my focus to stay on that story.  
**

 **I'm not going to give up or let my frustration (With almost everyone in the Harry Potter character pool. LOOKING AT YOU DUMBLEDORE.) leak to much into my writing since I hate reading stories that never get updated and are left without a small ending or a reason as to why the author had to stop. So you won't have to worry about that but just note, updates are going to be slower not because I forgot to edit and put it off, but because of the reasons stated above in my very long rant. (Give me an explanation and I'll find some way to make it very, very long _)**

 **Thanks for reading up to this point though! ^-^**


	23. Chapter 23, The Second Challenge

Paula was used to waking up in the middle of the night thanks to her frequent nightmares of the Happy-Happy Cultists, Giygas who had impacted her much more than it did her friends thanks to being able to hear his thoughts and being afraid of wizards who weren't above torturing 'muggleborns' for laughs.

Normally they would shuffle through Giygas and the Happy-Happy Cultists. But after that world cup Ness had invited her too and the fear of a wizard finding out she was actually a PSI user, the nightmares of wizards had become more frequent guests in her dreams. It had been quiet clear in their battle against those muggle hating cultists that Ness and Paula had the upper hand thanks to their PSI. They merely had to dodge and lash out with their makeshift weapons before the wizards crumpled to the ground, giving them a serious advantage over the older and more skilled men.

But this… this was different. Normally, she awoke with a jolt, her breath coming in rapid gulps as she trembled from head to toe like a leaf before she slowly forced herself to take in her surroundings and remind herself that she was home.

Home was safe—for the most part anyway, her room was her sanctuary full of soothing items that brought forth happy memories to wash away t frightful pieces of her nightmares before she tried to fall back asleep.

She never woke up like this before, feeling as if her brain was just starting her morning routine early for a long car trip to visit family or for a school event that needed serious prep time. Her mind was clear and able to recount what she was last thinking of while her breathing was steady.

Paula glanced at her fuzzy pink alarm clock and frowned, feeling a little worried when she saw it was four in the morning. Today was a Saturday, meaning that her brain shouldn't had gently pushed her from her sleep for a free day. She glanced out the window, just to double check that it was indeed early morning and felt worry creep up her spine. The February skies were that light indigo purple and rosy pink hue, the sun slowly rising and coating the snow-covered town with small rays of warm light.

"Something's wrong." Paula murmured, not liking the early morning wake up that was seemingly caused by nothing, she sat up and closed her eyes, allowing her telekinetic powers to wander into her parents' room to see if they had woken up early and had created a loud but soothing noise that put her at ease instead of jolting her awake.

Their minds were quiet and still, indicating that they were in a deep sleep. But if that was the case then… what had woken her up—a low crunch of snow sent her mind's eye flying toward the door, briefly picking up two very awake minds processing information.

"Thieves!" Paula gasped, cringing as she felt herself fall off the bed in shock almost missing a very crucial detail as her mind's eye was yanked from the static filled zone that allowed her to reach out or speak to people. The pros and cons of Telekinetic speaking were like a two-way radio with specific wave lengths.

PSI users which much easier to find and talk to than average people since they had the same 'signal'. The average Joe couldn't hear Paula's mental voice as clearly, treating it like a mixed thought that their subconscious created and ignoring it unless Paula kept at it. She had discovered this the hard way when trying to talk to Jeff who had a busy mind and didn't believe in superstition.

Wizards also had a 'signal' one that was very hard to connect with. It was protected by some force field which gave Paula a headache whenever she tried to force through it and talk to them, she had only tried it on Ginny and quickly given up when it became clear that the girl barely noticed Paula's forceful attempts to mentally chat with her.

These 'thieves' had the same wavelength as Ginny, only weaker as the pair talked about something, their focus wavering between performing some action and talking.

Magic, Paula realized, they were attempting to perform magic and break into her house! But why? She focused actively pushing the magic back as she reached out for a snippet of a thought.

It came through several bursts of static, but it was worth it as four words rang in her ears. Paula, tournament, lake and desire.

It wasn't enough information to truly understand what they were after, but she had a small idea, an idea that was causing her blood pressure to rise and her hands to shake.

They wanted her for Ness's tournament, a life or death event that was going on at that horrible school. They desired her for some odd reason, perhaps because she was a muggle and had a lake in mind.

Did they desire her 'muggle' blood for a sacrifice to the wizarding gods of water? Out of a foolish notion she had looked up wizards and witches, growing sick at the sacrifices they made in exchange for magic and the 'blood of a virgin' they sought after.

Whatever the reason, their intent was clear. They wanted her, and were planning on kidnapping her. With a shaky gasp Paula flung herself out of her fear induced stupor and flattened herself on the floor her hand blindly reaching for something as she heard the front door open. She silently thanked her paranoia for suggesting the weapon as she grabbed her stainless-steel frying pan from under the bed and spun toward her door.

What do to? They were getting closer, she could feel their protected minds ringing loudly in the silent house, growing closer and closer to her room as she trembled. She would be forced to rely on brute strength, she didn't want to out her status as a PSI user. That would just make her and her family more appealing to watch or, they might drag her to the same school Ness was at.

She couldn't risk that! She couldn't _survive_ that!

"Breath," her voice sounded painfully loud as she struggled to rein in her fears and use a light PSI shield, she wouldn't have to worry about physical damage the last group of wizards she had fought had proven not to bother with the idea of kicking or punching them. They were too heavily focused on using their minds and magic to—

She jumped as her doorknob began to turn, blood began pounding in her ears as she plastered herself to the wall beside the door, holding her breath and the frying pan as it slowly opened.

Two British voices floated into her room followed by heavy boots tracking snow. Great, her mother was going to have a mess to clean up if Paula got herself caught. Which she wasn't! She was going to fight tooth and nail and show those awful wizards that Paula Polestar wasn't anyone to mess with!

She tensed, preparing for action as a woman wrapped in a black robe with a witch hat on her head, "Honestly, this is a bit much." The woman was muttering as a greasy haired man joined her, turning around to close the door as the woman continued, "The poor girl's going to have to have her mind wiped after this if she isn't like that Earthbound boy."

"Knowing our luck, she probably is," the greasy haired man drawled when he stiffened noticing the ferocious and terrified looking thirteen-year-old girl hiding behind the door, "Minerva!" the man barked whipping out his wand as Paula lunged and swung striking the man's hip and causing him to stumble with a grunt of pain.

She hopped uncertainly on one foot as she twisted her body, grateful for the few lessons of ballet and baseball she took as she wound up and tried to hit the woman who was able to react and jump back, "Now hold on! We aren't going to hurt you!" the woman—Minerva cried, "You'll just be taking a short field trip Ms. Polestar!"

Paula bit her lip to suppress a retort and focused on lunging, when it came to fighting skills Paula was great at slamming enemies with PSI and giving those who got too close to her nasty headaches with her frying pan, often treating it like a mace or a baseball bat than a pan.

Movement was key, rapid attacks were important especially since she was dealing with a magic only user, warning tones the sound of static exploded in her ear as a spell shot past her ear and slammed into her window. The other wizard was able to focus through the pain? Perhaps she was going to have to resort to crude violence…

Throwing up a beta light PSI shield to protect her against the spells that she was unable to dodge, she continued swinging and keeping her senses alert. Minerva pursed her lips when she sensed that talking wasn't going to be an option and pointed her wand at Paula, preparing to wordlessly cast a spell.

"I'm not going anywhere with cultists!" Paula grounded out, ducking under a midnight blue wisp of smoke and swiftly jabbing the woman with the pan handle. Minerva doubled over as Paula dove to the left, catching another blue wisp behind her and glowering at the greasy haired man who was deadest on doing something to her with that spell.

With her divided focus she was going to fail soon, but with the woman struggling for breath and her wand across the room she would simply have to deal with the—

A loud buzz ripped her from her battle mindset as something _broke_ through her shield and smacked her in the face. A wave of sleepiness crashed down on her as Paula struggled to stand her mind a static mess of confusion as she tried to figure out what happened.

Her shield was at Beta level, meaning it was weak but it should have blocked the spell before shattering! How could it had so easily been destroyed? And why was her head fuzzy? She could barely identify the level of hypnosis she was under as she fell forward faintly murmuring, "No…" as she was thrown into a nightmare. Her powers unable to reach out and scream for help as the mind-numbing static forced it down. Leaving Paula helpless.

* * *

"Why did it have to be so early in the morning." Ness grumbled, shooting a glare at the still rising sun as he stumbled down into the dining hall to eat. Every champion who had an inkling of what today's task was looking sick, wondering what their greatest treasure was doing underwater as they forced themselves to eat a light breakfast.

Ness felt sick as well, but not just because of the task, ever since he woke up he had felt something loud and jumbled bouncing around his mind, leaving him feeling nausea and oddly, afraid.

Was this another magic side-effect? Was something magically trying to use telekinesis but failing? He didn't know, but he wanted it to kindly shut up so he could focus on eating a piece of toast.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Alexander murmured as he sipped on a cup of tea, looking awful as Adaliz grumbled something in rapid French.

"What's wrong Adaliz?" Ness asked, hoping that talking to someone would make him forget the jumbled storm rampaging in his head.

"It's my best friend, Maria!" Adaliz replied her voice heavy with annoyance and underlying fear, "Madam Maxine wished to speak to her last night and she never returned!"

"Huh…Same thing happened to my pal, Gerald," Alexander murmured, "Karkaroff needed him for something and wouldn't tell me what it was about. I don't think he ever came back."

"Weird…" Ness commented as the jumbled thoughts became coherent and more urgent, causing him to cringe as a loud sound rang out in his head, "-ess?" he looked up, suppressing a weak growl of pain as the storm grew louder, "Is something wrong?" Ginny asked, joining them with a yawn, "You look pained."

"I just have this awful headache-," Ness started when he heard someone call his name, he looked around and frowned when he saw no one else looking at him, "Did…you guys call me?" Ness asked frowning when they shook their heads.

"You were saying something about a headache when you froze up-," Adaliz started to supply when someone frantically yelled, _"Cultists!"_

Prompting him to stiffen and look around, "Ness?" Alexander questioned looking a little worried as Ness blinked and felt the storm increase in a panicked frenzy, whimpering something about pain and cultists attacking her.

"Paula." Ness realized as he stopped fighting the storm and felt overwhelmed by a mess of static and blue fog threatening to put him to sleep unless he reacted quickly, "Bathroom!" Ness abruptly said, hurrying back upstairs and locking himself in a classroom as he tried to figure out why and how Paula was contacting him in such a panicked rush.

 _"Paula? Paula chill! What's going on?!"_ Ness asked, feeling terrified as he tried to push away some of the more frenzied thoughts to hear Paula's voice, _"What did the wizards do? Where are you?"_

 _"They broke it, they broke it!"_ Paula managed her voice sounding pained, confused and utterly terrified as it rose and dropped in volume, suddenly cutting in and out, _"Fighting—wizards! Heavy Hypnosis—tournament!"_

 _"Tournament? Paula._ _ **Where are you?**_ _"_ Ness asked, his heart dropping as Paula's voice began to fade seemingly unable to hold the connection, _"Lake! Des-!"_ were the last coherent words Paula managed before her voice died completely, the storm abruptly ending and leaving Ness feeling like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on his head.

"They didn't." Ness whispered as he hurried back to the table and joined Adaliz and Alexander who were about to leave for the lake, "Ness? What's wrong?" Adaliz asked, quickly noticing the panicked look in his eyes as he forced himself to seem collected.

"Paula, they got—I think she's-," Ness stopped himself and took a shaky breath, "Our treasures, there _people."_ Adaliz and Alexander shared a horrified yet baffled expression before they looked back at Ness, "Paula, she um, contacted me and she was really, really freaked out," Ness explained, "She's a muggle and she was rambling on about water and cultists before she abruptly hung up on me and-,"

"They wouldn't…" Alexander whispered with a look of pure despair on his face, Adaliz merely balled her hands into fists and picked up the past, speed walking past Flur and Victor who shot her an annoyed look for shoving past them then shared a baffled frown as Alexander and Ness broke into a sprint wasting no time to reach the lake.

"Now! Now!" Ludo Bagman started with a tone so cheerful and upbeat that it nearly made Ness wonder if wizards _enjoyed_ seeing young kids being thrown into the lake with sea monsters, "No need to rush!"

He recoiled at the pair of death glares he got as Alexander feverishly muttered his plan to himself, shaking with the fear at the thought of being unable to save Gerald.

"Where's Harry?" a bossy voice belonging to Percy asked. Apparently, Mr. Crouch was sick. AGAIN, and now Percy was in charge. Ness was considering shutting him up when he realized that Harry was indeed not with them.

Ice cold panic surged through him as he realized that they weren't going to start until Harry showed up, leaving Paula and the others stuck under the water for a bit longer. How much air did they have? Were they all magically knocked out? They had to be given how relaxed everyone was, acting as if they didn't have a care in the world as Ness desperately tried to reach Paula.

"I'm here!" Ness barely resisted muttering 'Thank god' as Harry stumble to a stop before the lake, breathing heavily and looking worried, did he know about the people being used as treasures as well? If so, then that meant they had four people who were somewhat prepared to fight tooth and nail for their friends and family.

Ness considered it a miracle that he didn't shoot Bagman a death glare as they lined up and the man ensured that everyone knew what they were doing. "Good, good," Bagman said before he put his wand to his throat and murmured a spell, allowing his voice to be heard throughout the hastily made bleachers and tents.

He said something that Ness tuned out as he tried to locate Paula, gritting his teeth at how hard it was to mentally reach out for someone, did Paula face all this static on a daily basis? If so, he was _never_ buying her a radio.

He jolted as Bagman yelled, "Go!" and everyone moved forward just as Paula's voice came through crystal clear, the static and turmoil from before washed away, _"Ness! I'm underwater surrounded by Merpeople!"_

 _"Can you see the surface? Maybe a landmark?"_ Ness asked as he kicked his shoes and hat off and dove into the freezing water, _"OHMYGOSHTHISISCOLD."_

 _"It's the middle of February! What did you expect?!"_

 _"Not an icebox!"_ Ness retorted as he forced himself to focus on Paula's voice and holding his breath. _"Now location! Maybe a picture of where you're at! I'm running out of air!"_

 _"This isn't going to help but…"_ a mental image flashed across his mind, showing a small set of coral houses, fish like people who did NOT look like Merpeople and a row of wooden sticks with people tied to them, their hair frozen mid flutter as the slow water current played with them.

 _"Alright, I'm on my way!"_ Ness said, vaguely aware of Alexander and Adaliz swimming beside him in the murky water, he was tempted to grab their arms and teleport them to Paula but decided against it.

He wasn't even sure if his sliver of an idea was going to work with just him, he didn't want to screw up their chance if he failed. With a silent prayer to God he dropped to the lake bed and tried to run picturing the image Paula had given him as he forced his legs to kick through the water in a running gesture.

For a moment, there was nothing but bubbles appearing, then with a bright flash he found himself looking right at Paula, a storm of bubbles erupting from the sudden teleportation and the air in his lungs threatening to burst.

 _"Ness!"_ Paula mentally screeched, her eyes growing wide with relief as she squirmed, trying to loosen the rope binding her to the pole, _"Nice nightgown,"_ Ness commented, fighting back a blush as Paula snapped, _"Don't remind me! This is even worse than the last kidnapping!"_

 _"Right, right."_ Ness dropped the floor and searched the sand, trying to find a sharp rock as Paula frantically urged him to hurry, spotting the Merpeople from before closing in on them as Ness found what he was looking for and cut Paula free, _"Are you okay?"_

 _"Besides feeling lightheaded, scared out of my wits and traumatized of water? Fine."_ Paula sarcastically replied performing small bicycle kicks as she glued her arms to her side, her face a bright red.

 _"Nice to know,"_ Ness glanced at the others then at the surface which was so far away… could the others make it in time? Would _they_ make it out? They didn't have any magic breathing tools and were both dangerously low on air, they would have to move fast if they wanted to live.

 _"Paula, I know this is probably a dumb idea, but can you reach out to some wizards named Adaliz, Alexander and Harry? Tell them that everyone's sort of fine?"_

Paula gave a grim frown as her eyes drooped, prompting Ness to grab Paula and drop to the ground, preparing to teleport them out of the lake, _"N-no…Somehow, I used up all my PSI energy to fight off the hypnosis and finding you in that awful building."_ Paula replied as Ness began water sprinting and pictured them in the castle, the transfer to land and water was oddly painful as water ran up their nose and they stumbled into an empty classroom, taking greedy gulps of air as they collapsed on the cold stone floor.

"I want the person who came up with this challenge, to get _mobbed_ by the Cubs fan." Ness gasped his hand still wrapped around Paula's as she wheezed, "Can the fans be armed with frying pans? I would like that."

"Heck. Yes."

They stayed like that for a bit before they sat up and looked at each other, Paula was a complete mess and for some odd reason, she was wearing a witch's robe over her sun yellow nightgown.

Ness deiced not to point this out and instead made fun of her messy hair bun, her ribbon drooping and tickling the base of her neck as her hair looked like a wild Barbie doll's.

"Not a word." Paula hissed when she felt her hair and blushed, hastily tying it down before she looked out the window. "Now what? Do we go back or…?"

"We go back." Ness answered, squeezing her hand as fear briefly flickered onto her face, "At least until we're sure the other champions reach their loved ones."

"Those other people—," Paula started before she shut her mouth and started to shake, maybe out of fear or anger at being next to others who may have also been kidnapped from their homes, "I'm setting your principle on fire." Paula said after a long moment.

"Yea, I'm thinking of doing that to." They stood up and with a last nod of confidence and deep breathes, teleported back into the water. It felt like performing a cannon ball in moving water, being swiftly yanked away before they abruptly stopped in a storm of bubbles in front of the others.

Paula tightened her grip and frantically pointed to a person with glasses and gills and desperately waved her hand.

 _"Paula, I think that's Harry."_ Ness said after a moment of examining the fish boy.

 _"Why is he a fish!?"_

 _"Let's ask him later,"_ Ness said before he swam up to Harry, gesturing toward the people who were still tied up, then the surface before pointing to him and Paula who was warily eyeing the Merpeople closing in on them.

Harry looked back the way he came before he nodded, mouthing, "Thank you." As they started to untie people. They ignored the Merpeople's warnings of only taking one and Harry snapped at them a couple times, his angry words erupting in a volcano of bubbles as Ness went to hand Paula the rock he was using when he paused.

 _"Where were you keeping that pocket knife?"_

 _"In a pocket in my nightgown."_ Paula hotly replied as she moved to untie a girl who looked a lot like Flur, _"I've sewn hidden pockets in most of my dresses after running into two different groups of cultists."_

 _"Smart."_

 _"Thank you, now stab the fish people!"_

 _Geez, you're violent when being a damsel in distress."_ If looks could kill then Ness's corpse would probably be floating up to the surface as Paula shot him a look worthy of a critical attack before she resumed untying everyone with Harry's help.

Ness focused on jabbing at the fish people who were getting to close and checking in with Paula every now and then to ensure that she was doing okay air wise.

They had just untied Hermione when a hammer head shark appeared, startling everyone into pausing before Harry realized who it was and waved at them (Paula mostly) to calm down and lower their weapons, mouthing, "Krum." As the hammerhead shark gently began nudging Hermione up to the surface.

Soon after Krum arrived Flur and Cedric followed by a frantic Adaliz and Alexander arrived, rescuing their chosen loved ones with thankful nods at the trio before they swam to the surface. Ness flashed Harry a thumbs up before he grabbed Paula and teleported to the very end of the lake, erupting out of the water with twin gasps and coughs as the crowd exploded with applause.

"These people have a sick sense of humor." Paula weakly noted, leaning on Ness as he guided her to the medical tent to get some towels, making a point avoid Madam Pomfrey and any other wizards when Paula flashed her pocketknife at them.

If they thought they were going to get answers from her anytime soon, they were dead wrong since she had a look of clear, fearful blood lust in her eyes as Ness buried her under towels.

"Why. Are you stuck going to this awful school?" Paula asked as she slowly calmed down, her breathing steady as she watched the wizards walk in and out of the medical tent. Madam Pomfrey had quickly backed off when she saw the look in Paula's eyes and focused on treating the hostages outside before coming back to them.

"I honestly have no idea." Ness admitted, "But I don't think I can just up and leave."

"Why not? Is there some law prevent you from 'changing' schools or something?" Paula hotly asked earning a small frown as Ness thought about it.

He had just taken going to Hogwarts with some relcunt stride and hadn't thought about out right leaving the school. It had never crossed his mind since it didn't sound like he had a lot to say in the matter of him attending Hogwarts.

"I'll bring it up after the tournament ends." Ness promised flashing Paula a reassuring smile before he was forced to go get his score from the judges. Mr. Crouch was nowhere to be seen, which was a bit worrisome as Percy gave him an okay score, Madam Maxine and Karkaroff gave him low scores while he got an oddly high one from Dumbledore, praising him and Harry's genuine concern to help save the other champions.

He ignored the current scoreboard in favor of returning to Paula who was reluctantly chatting with Luna about the wonders of Wood Pixies, _"Is she always like this?"_ Paula asked as she nodded her head along to seem like she was paying attention to Luna's explanation.

 _"More or less, but that's her charm."_ Ness bit back a grin as Paula sent him a bewildered look and grumbled, _"Wizards are scary, bizarre and should stay far, far away from me."_

 _"True, how did they even get you here? Besides, clearly kidnapping you."_

 _"I don't know, they put me under this weird hypnosis attack after I broke some slimy haired werido's hip and tried to beat up someone named Minerva."_

Snape helped kidnap Paula? With the help of someone else? He'd never thought the grumpy Slythrin teacher would have agreed to someone else helping him but perhaps he had been ordered by a higher up. A higher up with half-moon spectacles who had been all for children younger than him entering the tournament.

Dumbledore.

"Ness?" Luna questioned as Madam Pomfrey shot them a silent warning as students began to head back to the castle, "Later," Ness said a rare coil of anger forming as Paula studied him, "Come on, we need to see who's taking Paula home."

"Hopefully an airplane and a taxi." Paula muttered following them outside and into the ever present crowd of reporters who were still bugging the challengers.

They were nearly home free from the din of questions when a chipper voice called, "Moment of your time Earthbound?" and caused them to pause as a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Sorry! Sorry!" the man—Chip Adams Ness recalled from the Mystic Informant offered them an apologetic grin as Lily panted, "Finally! You two are _fast!_ "

"Just a couple questions then we'll be out of your face." Chip promised as he snapped a quick picture of Paula who could only managed a faint smile as she warily studied the two wizards, "Boss's orders you know."

"Right," Ness managed ignoring Paula's mental death glare, "So, what do you guys need?"

"Just the basics, did you know what the challenge was about, how did you get your plan of action? Stuff like that." Lily said with a wave of her hand trying to make the interview seem casual, "Nothing to big today kiddos!"

Nothing to big. How ironic, this entire challenge had been a race against life and death. Something the viewers only got an inkling of. Or, did they know and just not care? They had to have known, otherwise the hearty cheers wouldn't have sounded so relieved.

Ness was pulled out of his thoughts by Paula who gently pulled on his sleeve, not trusting herself to hold a civil conversation and answer the questions for him.

"Oh, right." Ness forced a sheepish smile, "Sorry, it's just overwhelming at the moment. Even though all of us had clues as what to do and rescue we didn't think they would take our loved ones."

Lily nodded and wrote it down on her notebook, her tape recorder from before nowhere to be seen, "I see, the other participants explained that they were called up to a teacher's office and explained the details of the challenge beforehand. Was this the same with you Ms…?"

It took Paula moment to realize Lily was asking her before she bluntly looked away, her voice tight with anger and fear as she answered, "Polestar, and no, I wasn't exactly informed and was basically kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Chip echoed in disbelief, "Er, do you know who?" Paula glared at him before she abruptly relaxed, "Someone named Minerva and a man with greasy black hair. That was all I managed to learn during our scuffle before they knocked me out."

"They _attacked_ you?" Lily asked with quiet horror, her hand faltering as Ness took over, "Paula was kidnapped by a cult when we were just kids and was involved at the Wizarding World Cup. Making her extremely distrustful of other wizards and on edge when around them. She heard them entering the house and attacked them the first chance she got, not letting them speak."

"They claimed they didn't mean any harm to me." Paula grumbled, the fire returning in her eyes, "But that was quickly proven false when they gave me a nasty headache in the process of knocking me out."

"Well…that explains the outfit." Chip muttered, winching as Lily elbowed him and offered Paula a sympathetic smile before she turned to Ness, "What are your thoughts on the challenge?"

"Hated it. Paula woke up during the challenge from being forcefully put under and had to work with limited air when I found her." Ness fought back a shudder at the thought of being unable to teleport Paula above the water to take a breather, "We stuck around to ensure that everyone else was alright but…it was terrifying, I seriously thought someone was going to die."

Chip and Lily nodded in understanding and profoundly thanked them for their time before moving on.

 _"…They weren't wizards."_ Paula said as they swiftly hurried into the castle to avoid the crowds of excited students, _"They weren't?"_ Ness questioned as he led her to the kitchens for a proper breakfast. Their stomachs grumpily reminding them that they hadn't eaten beforehand as they briskly walked down the hallway with the fruit painting.

 _"No, but I'm not sure what they were. Their signals were a bit mixed to be sure if they were normies or PSI users like us."_

 _"Man, Dumbledore's really slacking on security then."_ Ness stopped in front of the painting and tickled the pear like Ginny had told them for future attempts to try and talk to Winky. _"Only Wizards can see and enter this place."_

 _"Then how am I here?"_ Paula dryly retorted as the painting slid aside and allowed them to enter through the door.

 _"…magi—"_

 _"Don't."_

"Well I'm sort of right." Ness grumbled as they entered the kitchen and caused hundreds of House elves busily preparing for lunch look up in surprise.

Ness managed a small grin and a wave hello as Paula studied them in silent wonder. "Hey! Sorry for the sudden interruption! But my friend accidentally skipped breakfast in her hurry to be a volunteer for the tournament-" he didn't even get to finish before three eager House elves were spurred into action disappearing into the main hub of the giant kitchen and returning with some fruits, untouched pancakes and sausages.

"Here you go miss!" they squeaked as others pushed a small stool for Paula to sit on, ignoring her bewildered look as the tiny creatures went to fetch some milk for her to drink. _"Are they all like this?"_ Paula asked as she tried to thank them only to get it waved away.

 _"Yup, there the servants of the wizarding world and they LOVE to be helpful."_

 _"Well…nice to know they enjoy their work."_ Paula managed as she forced a smile and started to eat her food, leaving Ness to deal with elves who were wondering what he needed. Figuring asking for Winky outright was a bad idea he just asked dumb questions about why they came to Hogwarts and if they enjoyed their work.

"Oh yes Mr. Earthbound!" an elf wearing a polka dotted tea cozy squeaked, "Hogwarts is a wonderful, wonderful place! We're always busy, busy, busy!"

"And we get paid if we wants to!" someone yelled, causing the others to stiffen. Apparently, they didn't like money or vacation days since they kept going on about how busy they were in-between cooking and tidying up the castle.

"Thank you for the meal." Paula said, awkwardly handing her plate to an elf and resisting the urge to wash it herself by folding her hands together, "You all seem like a lovely bunch!"

They glowed with pride until a loud half sob echoed through the kitchen, causing everyone to turn toward the fireplace, the House elves with looks of serve disapproval while Ness and Paula exchanged worried looks at the lump carefully hidden under a blanket in front of a slow burning fireplace.

"Who's that?" Ness asked as Paula approached the lump, "Oh, it's just Winky, Sir." A House elf wearing a tea towel answered, "She's been er… coping."

"Very poorly." One elf muttered with an edge to its voice.

"Still? It's been half a year since um, the 'incidence'." Ness pointed out, feeling a little worried, "Is she okay?" the silent glares thrown toward Winky for her 'rude' behavior toward their guests quickly answered his question with a blunt 'No, she is not okay'.

 _"What happened? And why is everyone glaring at her?"_ Paula asked as she tried to cox Winky out from under her blanket, ignoring the frantic squeaks from the elves who assured her that Winky merely needed some alone time.

 _"She got blame for summoning the dark mark and fired. Which to elves is a fate worse than death."_ Ness explained, _"You met her at the World Cup, remember?"_

 _"I just remember cultists."_ Paula nudged Winky and softly called, "Winky? Are you alright?"

"She was before that _girl_ arrived." An elf wearing a tea pot cozy muttered, earning a half-hearted glares of disapproval and agreement from the other elves. Probably referring to Hermione and her bold claims of elf equality.

Ness really wished Hermione dropped it since the only immoral thing he could see was the fact that elves were the common servants for wizards. They seemed to be treated pretty well here in Hogwarts and were hopefully treated the same everywhere else.

Winky hiccuped, prompting Ness to look at the Tea cozy elf who uncomfortable muttered, "She _may_ have gotten into a stash of Butterbeer and _may_ have been constantly drinking it."

"So…she's drunk?" Ness questioned, biting back a small laugh of amusement and pity as they merely looked at him in silent unison, the answer loud and clear.

 _"Good lord. They got drunk off of BUTTER?!"_ Paula mentally exclaimed as she managed to force Winky to sit up, "Come now, what's wrong?" Paula coxed, "It's alright, you can tell me."

Winky furiously shook her head and sobbed, "Winky failed! Winky failed!" and tried to bury herself under her blankets.

 _"Um…explanation?"_

 _"She was supposed to take care of Mr. Crouch or something."_ Ness replied with a small shrug as Paula kept at it, desperately trying to tip-toe around the problem while pulling the answers out of the hysterically drunk elf.

"Now, now, it's alright Mr. Crouch is fine." Paula rubbed unsure small circles into Winky's back, "Sure, he may be a little lost at the moment but-,"

"No! He's very lost without Winky! Winky was supposed to protect the young-," she abruptly stopped herself, her giant eyes widening to the size of tennis balls before she tried to bang her head against the frying pan, "Can we not please!" Paula yelped pulling Winky back and patting her head, "H-here! I know what we can do!"

Winky looked at her with milky brown eyes, "I can try and contact him, see how's he's doing!"

"He's going to be just awful without Winky…" Winky moaned as Paula tried to make her look on the positive side, "We don't know that for sure, do we? For all we know he could be um, putting you through a test!"

"A t-test miss?" Winky asked, hiccuping slightly before she violently shook her head, "No! Winky not being put through a test!"

"Well, you could be, maybe he _does_ miss you but isn't sure you're a worthy worker." Ness attentively answered, "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be too pleased to know his house elf is hitting the sauce."

Paula shot him a withering glare as his comment and loose description of being drunk as it went over the elf's head.

"Mr. Crouch is sick, right? That means he must have depended on you oh so very much," Paula tried, "He probably misses you deep down but can't face the guilt of firing such a wonderful house elf out of anger."

 _"Or because he's a jerk."_ Ness offered, winching as Paula shot him a death glare, "He might be on the grounds right now! We could ask him about you if you want, to put your mind at ease." Paula offered, "It seems very disrespectful to wallow around when you have a second chance of being a wonderful worker."

"Winky doesn't deserve a second chance, not w-when the yo—Master could be running with th-e bad crowd." Winky sniffled interrupting herself with small shudders and feverishly correcting herself to hide something. Even when fired, Winky had a strong honor code toward the man who had basically thrown her to the wolves.

"Then we need to warn him!" Paula insisted, clapping Winky's hands together, "Remind him of all the wonderful things you did to make him reconsider his choices!"

An elf leaned over to Ness as Winky considered Paula's words, "You have a very wonderful lady friend Mr. Earthbound." The elf whispered, causing Ness to blush for some reason as he merely nodded in agreement, watching as Winky slowly nodded and sniffled, "But how can Winky reach him?"

"I'm um, a very special wizard." Paula explained with a slight grimace at her lie and the term 'wizard', "I can mentally contact people and speak to them with other people. You could speak through me if you like."

"D…does it really work?"

"Yes, I need a name and possibly a face to work with, but he should still be on school grounds." Paula assured her, "He's um, Barty Crouch, correct?"

Winky nodded and wiped her dull eyes that were slowly glowing with hope as Paula closed her eyes and searched for Mr. Crouch, who Ness realized never showed up. He was about to warn her about that when Paula chirped, "I found him! He's thinking about the third task or something and…oh my."

"Something wrong Paula?" Ness asked, wondering how on earth she managed to reach a man not here.

"His mind, it's unstable and it's very hard to stay in contact with." Paula explained, biting her lip as she focused, "He keeps rambling about Harry and some sort of Dark lord." Winky yelped and waved her hands, "Stop it! Please stop!"

Paula opened her eyes and grimaced, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry it was just all over the place, I don't think he would have heard me."

"That's fine, that's fine!" Winky shakily stated, waving her branch like arms in an excited gesture, "Winky's just glad to know his sickness isn't keeping him from work."

Paula frowned but didn't press, merely nodding in agreement and apologizing for getting Winky's hopes up before they left to the other elves delight.

"I wonder if we're banned as well." Ness mused as they went to grab a light lunch from the table and nodded toward his friends.

"Where were you?" Ginny asked with a small frown, "You two just up and disappeared!"

"Breakfast and a certain drunk elf." Ness explained, dropping his voice to a whisper as the others—mainly Harry, Hermione and Ron looked up in surprise.

"You got her to talk to you?" Hermione asked in disbelief as Paula carefully picked at a sandwich, "The poor thing was so distressed over being fired, I just want to cheer her up a bit." Paula sighed, "I ended up making her more flustered in the end."

"How'd you do that?" Ron asked throwing a light glare at Hermione, "Did you try and advocate for elf freedom?"

Paula frowned and shook her head, "Now why on earth would I do that? They seemed perfectly fine."

"Plus I get the feeling that they _need_ someone to boss them around in order to survive." Ness added, watching Hermione grow frustrated with Paula's inability to see her cause. Which meant she was probably about to begin ranting about it.

"But they aren't getting paid! Or getting vacation days!" And she did.

Paula raised an eyebrow with a blunt stare as a retort, "And? There happy, and the best thing you can find in a job is happiness."

"There slaves!"

"Workers. There workers who repay their host's kindness by tending to the castle." Paula corrected, "Why on earth would they even _need_ money, don't you cultists use-,"

" _Wizards._ Paula." Ness corrected, trying to ignore the withering glare she shot him before she resumed eating.

"So, why did Winky get flustered?" Ginny asked, glancing at Paula then trying to mime mind reading. "Paula sensed something about Mr. Crouch that she shouldn't have." Ness carefully explained, watching Paula who stiffened but gave a small nod at his explanation.

"When?" Harry asked, "He didn't show up, remember?"

"I know, but she sensed _a Crouch._ " Ness glanced at Mad Eye Moody before glaring at Snape and Dumbledore, "One who was rambling on about the Dark Lord."

"He needs help." Paula muttered, quietly adding, "Like all 'wizards'." When she was sure no one was watching her. It was hard to do so since _everyone_ was studying Paula and the others hostages with awe, probably wanting to ask how it felt to be a part of the tournament. It irked them when Colin Creevy bounded up to them after lunch and excitedly asked Paula what it was like to be underwater.

Paula gave him a look then thought to Ness, _"There all insane."_ Before she bluntly informed Colin that wasn't a public subject to talk about and shot him a warning glare as Ness lead her to the waiting room for the other hostages to use as they waited for the Hogwarts express to take them back home.

"I should have grabbed a frying pan from the kitchen." Paula complained as Ness checked up on her on break, feeling a bit relived that she hadn't tried to set anyone on fire yet, "Well, you could borrow my bat if you want." Ness offered, frowning as Paula flushed slightly and muttered that he would be defenseless against the cultists and changed topic.

 _"So, I did another search for Mr. Crouch and I kept bumping into another PSI user."_

Ness raised an eyebrow in confusion as they pretended to read school books, _"You did?"_

 _"Yes, a powerful PSI user since I kept going around it when I tried to see who it was exactly."_

 _"That's odd…I'm supposed to be the only one here."_

 _"Apparently not, since it's an adult mind and somewhere above us."_

 _"I'll look into it."_ Ness promised before prompting about Mr. Crouch.

 _"Yes, as I was saying when I did find his mind it was…interesting. He's planning something, something big that involves you, Harry and a grass maze."_ Paula paused and glanced at Ness, _"By the way. How old is Mr. Crouch?"_

 _"Uh…old enough to be a grump, have a nearly grown son be murdered for working with the Dark Lord and to be head of something or other."_

 _"Ah…So…That means that it's another Crouch Winky was going on about."_

Ness straightened and shot her a confused look.

 _"Think about it, she kept talking about the 'young master' and him 'falling into a bad crowd'. Now why would a House Elf be using childish phrases when she's worrying about a man who's ill with not mental issues, but a physical sickness?"_

 _"She'd use it to reference another Crouch. Which means that the son who was murdered didn't actually die and was the guy behind the attack!"_

 _"And is here in the flesh. Did you get any new teachers?"_

 _"Yea! Mad Eye Moody! It's the perfect cover! He's cautious about everything and his paranoia wouldn't be suspicious to anyone since it's a Moody thing!"_

 _"We have to do something!"_

 _"Like tell a teacher?"_

Paula shot him a glare, _"No, like force him to reveal himself. He's clearly using some sort of illusion magic!"_

 _"Yea…but what?"_ Ness questioned when the bell rang, forcing Ness to grimace and shoot Paula an apologetic glance as he hurried to Potions. Hopefully Selvis would know the illusion spell behind Moody's disguise.

"Isn't it obvious?" Selvis wrote, "He's using a Polyjuice Potion, probably hidden in his flask."

Ness shot Selvis a look as the Slytherin boy disappeared into the crowd to make it to his next class. The flask, the one thing Moody carried on him at all times. Of course. But the question was, how were they going to get it away from him long enough to reveal he was a faker?

Ness sighed and shot Paula a quick mental thank you as he continued on with school life and bid a nervous Paula good-bye right after dinner.

"As soon as I figure out their addresses, there getting a very angry letter from me." Paula promised, giving Ness a quick hug before she boarded the train, unable to resist looking around in clear awe as she waved good bye from a window.

"Safe travels!" Ness called, chuckling at the thought of Paula sending Dumbledore a firestorm of complaints.

* * *

 **Paula was fun to write ^-^ and I think I managed to drop enough romantic hints for this chapter! (Right? I'm not very good with romance and my private practices end up with them being friends or just skipping to the date part and chilling.) Anyway, Merry Christmas Eve! Enjoy your present of two chapters instead of one!  
**


	24. Chapter 24, A Dangeous Confrontation

Even after spending full year at Hogwarts, trying to find its many secrets Ness never thought about Hogwarts being…well, evil or at the very least very manipulative. He spent March awaiting the firestorm of letters from Paula and her rightfully terrified and angry parents to Dumbledore who had endangered several none students for the second challenge but, there was nothing.

The only sign that Paula was annoyed was the letter she had written to Ness with a strict message informing him to show NO ONE and to destroy it as soon as possible sent in mid-March. With slight hesitation, he did. Waiting for everyone to fall asleep he sat up in bed and sat by the window using the faint moonlight to read her letter in the dark.

His dinner churned in a violent manner as he read it once, then twice before leaning back. The message?

 _'Dear Ness, I write to you for fear of possibly being crazy and, fearing the safety of my life and others. When I returned home on a plane (I wasn't letting those cultists teleport me ANYWHERE.) my mother and father greeted me with cheerful smiles and asked how my SCHOOL TOUR went. Not, if I was safe or where I had gone, but simply how my tour of YOUR school went._

 _Rightfully confused I asked what they meant, and they revealed that they knew about the secret letter I got for my 'advanced' skills in Psychology offering to give me a brief tour and to see a fun 'school tournament' being held. Apparently, I agreed despite NEVER getting a letter from these people and my disappearance was merely a secret taxi ride to a private jet._

 _They weren't even mad that I had almost gone behind their back for a 'tour'! They were just glad my 'skills' were being recognized! And that's not the worse part, later I read their minds and discovered that SOMEONE had rewired it to make the lie a truth. Possibly with the same spell that had broken my shield and rendered my mind useless for a couple hours._

 _I take it back Ness, Wizards aren't cultists, their monsters with the power to 'rewrite' history with their magic. I was going to try and tell my papers about it, maybe warn other people about them but I was contacted by the Mystic Informant and a school principal who both warned me to stay quiet and informed me that wizards rewrote Muggles memories on a daily basis to keep their world a secret and that it would happen to me and most likely destroy my PSI powers._

 _The Mystic Informant was kind enough to use my statement as a flame war and blurred my name out for privacy reasons for bringing a 'muggle' into a tournament and urged me to warn you that you're not safe._

 _I recall you informing me of your attempts of performing magic and gaining nasty headaches as well as blowing things up in a mix of PSI and magic, they didn't give me to much detail for fear of overwhelming me but informed me that PSI and magic SHOULD NEVER mix and that as soon as your school year is over, they would be offering therapist services to you to ensure your mentally okay._

 _I understand your currently stuck there and trying to prevent that other Crouch from doing something but please, BE CAREFUL about what you may say or do. Hogwarts may be keeping your true abilities under wrap for now, but if that other guy is truly a follower of that Dark Lord then you may be forced to fight him and get your true status leaked to the magic world._

 _From a worried friend who may begin protesting wizards, Paula.'_

That had been enough to seriously scare him about magic. He knew it was powerful beforehand but brushed it off thanks to his cure abilities and being mostly unaffected by it. But to even _think_ about magic doing permanent damage to the powers blessed to him was terrifying.

No more animal insight, no more healing his little sister or friends who had gotten a small injury. He would go back to being boring old Ness, and possibly without his memories of his grand adventure or powers in the first place if the wizards decided to go the extra mile and wipe his memories.

"Wizards do not mess around." Ness sighed, folding up the many pieces of paper and slipping downstairs to burn them. He didn't want Paula to get in trouble _or_ lose her memories because he was being careless.

For the rest of March, he was diligent, careful not to let Paula's letter slip to his friends (Who he trusted greatly, but didn't trust their parents who all seemed to have some speaking platform.) while trying to figure out how to steal Mad Eyed Moody's flask and what the third trial was.

They hadn't been given so much as a hint as what to expect. Leaving the champions on edge. Ness tried his best to relax but the looming thought of wizards being seriously dangerous and a loved one being kidnapped for this crazy tournament haunted his thoughts daily.

And his friends quickly noticed his subdued mood. "Earthbound, did you get sick or something?" Selvis questioned, absently reading a history textbook while he listened into conversations with the help of his magic stone.

"Nah…stressed." Ness replied, trying to be invisible as he read the Mystic Informant who was reviewing Hogwarts for their kidnapping attempt and life threatening challenge with not so thrilled reviews from American wizards and muggles. It brought a small smile to his face as he read, but not enough to ward off the giant knot of unease forming in his stomach.

"I wonder what's going to happen." Ginny mused as she and Luna played a game of chess with magic. Because why not? Ness was starting to notice how much magic was being involved on a daily basis. He had noticed signs of it when spending summer break with Ginny and having that awful, itchy cold food but he never noticed how _everyone_ relied on magic first to complete tasks. In fact, it was unnerving to hear that one of the punishments the grumpy old janitor had was to wash the trophies down without magic, an everyday chore that normal kids would have faced daily.

Just how valuable was magic to these wizards?

"Chaos," Luna guessed, pulling Ness from his thoughts as the Ravenclaw nudged her pawn into place, "Just like last year."

"And the year before it." Selvis added with a small frown, "Chaos seems to be one of Hogwarts goals."

"Is Hogwarts _always_ chaotic?" Ness asked, "I mean, before _we_ enrolled?" they mulled it over before shaking their heads and recalling what their parents had said about the school.

The only real odd part was when Voldemort framed Hagrid for being the heir of the Chambers of Secrets and nothing else. Which was weird. Did all these crazy events merely happen because the Boy Who Lived was here? If so…then how? How had fate managed to keep young, muggle-like Harry alive and against the odds of death?

Something just didn't seem right.

"Hey, the Polyjuice potion is taken in doses, right?" Ness glanced up from his thoughts once more as Selvis continued, "So, wouldn't that mean that he's making more on campus to avoid running out?"

"Isn't it super hard to make?" Ness questioned.

"Yes, that's my point. He couldn't have made a whole bunch to tide him over the school year, especially since he jumped Mad Eyed Moody at the beginning of the year."

Selvis flinched as Ginny gasped and exclaimed, "Mad Eyed Moody must be on the school grounds then!"

"But where?" Luna questioned with a small frown, "It'll have to be secret and a place where no student would poke their nose into."

"Well…would a student poke his nose into a teacher's office?" Ness questioned already knowing the answer as the Boundless members exchanged looks then nodded.

A plan forming in their minds to rescue Mad Eyed Moody and hopefully, throw Barty Jr. back in jail.

The plan was simple, they would spend their time studying Barty Jr. picking up his habits and timeline for after class to see when he was out of his office. Then Ness would teleport into the office which, according to Harry was on the third floor by the bathrooms. And find the real Mad Eyed Moody.

Of course they tried to go to the teachers before they broke hundreds of school rules but no one really listened to them and were to busy being swept up in the odd formation of hedges growing out on the Qudditch Field. Something every Qudditch fan and player had greatly disliked when they spotted the growing lumps out on the field one night.

It was nerve wracking not to instinctively shy away from the imposter in class or to call him out right then and there (Something Ginny wanted to do.) or to confide in Harry who Ness wasn't sure was completely on board with their odd way of thinking. Harry would be a bit skeptical since Mad Eyed Moody was a renowned Aurora and seemed to greatly trust Dumbledore, like every other student. Probably enough to forget his bad luck with picking teachers.

It was agonizing as they patiently waited for a chance to sneak into Mad Eyed Moody's office, keeping careful notes of his usual schedule, while trying to seem normal when he sensed their presence with that annoying magic eye. It wasn't until late May that Ness got his chance to sneak into the office.

"He's gone!" Selvis breathless announced late one night, "He went outside for some reason!"

 _"You're joking!"_ Ginny hissed, sounding sleepy and also a little annoyed at being pulled out of her nightly studies.

 _"I wonder why."_ Luna mused while Ness slipped out of bed and hurriedly teleported to the room, flinching as every device inside went off like a mad tea pot, "Geez! This guy must have a lot to hide given the security!" Ness hissed as he searched around the office, careful not to touch anything that seemed important as he worked.

 _"Find anything?"_ Selvis asked as Ness ran his hands through his early bedhead and sighed, "No, not yet." Before he went to try the objects and books. Shivering as he opened one drawer and discovered crazed scribbles talking about the key to offering Harry to the Dark Lord.

He pocketed one of the scribbles when it mentioned a trophy to be used and resumed searching. A knot of worry growing in his stomach as he was left to search the trunk.

"Wish me luck." Ness whispered as he studied one of the locks, took a deep breath and used Rockin' Alpha on it, shattering it into pieces before he threw it open. In hindsight, finding a neater way to break open the lock was probably a better idea but he was greatly running out of time and he only had one more place to look.

Carefully rummaging through the contents with his almost forgotten wand he searched through every robe, book, scroll, trap and then, a false bottom.

"Just like in the books." Ness silently cheered and pried it open, his breathing suddenly to loud and the soft screech making it very hard to stay rooted to reality and not give into his fears and bolt from the room.

"I found him!" Ness cheered earning sighs of relief from the girls then a crisp, _"Good, now hurry it up! He'll come back any moment now!"_ From Selvis.

"Hey, sir, are you alright?" Ness gently jostled the sickly version of Mad Eyed Moody and awaited an answer. He got no reply. "It's going to be alright, I'm going to get you out of here." Performing every healing PSI attack he had until he got some slight stirring from the most likely half dead man.

"I'm going to sit you up, alright?" Ness whispered as something in the room began to whistle, "Geez, you really love loud things, like I get your paranoid about everything but really." Ness noted with a small forced laugh as he steadied the swaying man, "Alright, this is going to be a bit tricky, and a little disorientating but I'm going to teleport us out of here."

"He's here." Moody mumbled with a croak, grimacing in pain from using his underused vocal cords, "Run,"

Ness frowned and was about to say that he wasn't leaving without him, or without giving him some help when he heard a cold voice hiss, _"Impero!"_

He gave a yelp as his senses were dunked under unforgivable icy water, angry whispers were ordering him to do something. He wasn't competently sure what as something that sounded like a river was drowning them out. It was even worse than the first time Barty Jr. had performed the curse on him.

 _"How did you know?"_ one of the whispers—orders, demanded.

"Not telling." Ness replied, cringing as he bit his tongue in the process. Was something impeding his speaking ability?

 _"How did you know!"_ the voice insisted as Ness tried to block him out, he wasn't going to be Junior's little puppet and sell anyone out. He was going back to jail, or get help since his mind seemed dangerously unstable and leaving him and Harry alone.

 _"Get out!"_ Ness ordered, a headache coming on as he struggled against Barty Jr.'s desperate grasp, fighting back against the angry ocean of magic as he prepared to use a Rockin' Alpha.

Ness swore that he heard glass break as Barty Jr. was sent stumbling back, a look of panic and pain written all over 'Mad Eyed's' gnarled face as Ness lunged forward and grabbed the metal flask opening it and dumping to misty liquid onto the floor.

"Adios importer!" with the flask empty and Ness feeling a little triumphant he turned to the imposter, prepared to use Paralysis Omega until the potion wore off. He froze at the wand pointed not at him, but at the _real_ Mad Eyed Mood.

"One wrong move," Barty Jr. rasped, "And I'll kill him."

"And risk losing your potion income?" Ness challenged, forcing himself to relax and just attack, "Doubt it." With the silent command Barty Jr. froze, his eyes wide with disbelief as Ness snatched the wand out of his stiff hand and moved to break it over his knee.

"Go ahead," Barty Jr. rasped, struggling to move and regain control of his limbs, "Break it, but do it and I'll reveal to the entire wizarding world that you're a PSI user."

"And? I'll just blame Dumbledore." Ness coolly retorted, not liking the desperate grin attempting to form on the man's frozen face, "And Paula? Sweet, innocent Paula?"

He stiffened and felt a rare wave of protective anger crash over him. "Leave her out of this."

"But she's already _in_ this mess. Thanks, your presence. One simple word…and you're both toast." Barty Jr. gave a small laugh and mercilessly mused, "I wonder how the Ministry would react to _two_ PSI users being involved at the World Cup and being the sole reason behind the truth of Peter Petigrew, amusing, right?"

"Yea no, you're not saying _anything. To anyone."_ Ness growled breaking the wand and glowering at the man.

"My friend will."

"Sure." Ness broke it into an extra couple pieces just so the man wouldn't be able to do anything with the remains but froze when Barty Jr. added, "Or, I could simply ask Peter to murder her for me. Lord Voldemort was quiet pleased to hear that I had a PSI student in my grasp, and even more so when the rat joined the girl back home."

Voldemort knew? About them? He had to warn Paula! And maybe her parents! Or maybe Jeff, he _was_ working on a device to get rid of nasty rodents. Plus it would be a lot easier for him to deal with it since Peter wouldn't know about the boy genius and his smarts.

"Or…perhaps we could work out a little deal."

Ness shot him an annoyed look as the man continued, "During the final match, I need you to ensure that Harry gets to the end and wins the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

"Or else?" Ness said with a low growl, he wasn't liking the sound of this.

"Or else, the girl and everyone you care for will mysteriously die." Barty Jr. Gave another low chuckle, "Lord Voldemort has been very pleased with my work so far…it'll be easy to arrange a short trip to America and back."

"You wouldn't," Ness hissed, an odd weight of helplessness taking root as the man calmly looked back at him with a deranged glint in his eye, "I would."

* * *

 **Dun, dun, DUNNN! Cliff hanger! Wait, crude, cliff hanger! _ I really need to plan my writing out better...and maybe actually plan.**

 **Also, more romance hints! (Seriously, am I dropping these hints right? I'm so lost...)**


	25. Chapter 25, The Maze Of Betrayal

Time seemed to fly by as the final challenge—the maze that would be filled with monsters no doubt—loomed closer. The audience excitedly talked about it during break while the champions stressed about what they needed to practice or study for the upcoming task.

Even cool, relaxed Ness was feeling the pressure Harry noted, as the day grew closer Ness seemed to grow more anxious and kept throwing quick, unreadable glances at Mad Eyed Moody who, according to Ginny was tutoring the boy after being asked for help after school.

Even though he and Ness weren't the best of friends he still wanted to try and get the boy to relax, they were fellow Gryffindors and Champions who had worked together in the past. But it appeared that his mere presence made Ness withdraw even more and make casual excuses to do his own thing before disappearing, probably with the help of his teleportation magic.

Then the snowball of information had slammed into him with the speed of a Pegasus, slowly tumbling down before colliding with him. Starting with an unsettling dream that caused his scar to erupt in pain during Divination as he somehow overheard Wormtail and a being who sounded human, yet wasn't who at the same time talking, with a snake named Nagini lurking around the chair where the being rested.

The conversation was blunt and to the point, talking about how they needed him for some ceremony that was looming closer. But the pained wails of Wormtail's screams as the man or thing performed Crucio, the feeling of actually _being_ in the room and the burning thoughts of being kidnapped or worse, killed made the dream feel realistic and unnerving to properly comprehend what was happening.

He quickly left class and bumped into Professor Kale who gave a yelp and dropped his scrolls. In his haste he blurted out apologies, helped clean up the mess, lied about a headache then resumed his quest to find Dumbledore only to pause as Kale eerily stated, "Hit the ground when the one bounded by earth snaps."

Harry had spun around in confusion to ensure he had heard right, but Professor Kale was gone leaving him to wonder who was bounded to the earth and why he should hit the floor as he resumed his quest to Dumbledore who merely showed him the truth about Mr. Crouch and gave a puzzled frown when Harry briefly recalled what Professor Kale had said.

"It sounds like a future warning." The older man had mused as Harry's head spun from the truth, "Perhaps he means Ness?"

Ness? Why would Ness snap? And when? He found himself stealing glances at Ness who could only return them with a guilty glance of his own. Why was the boy guilty? He hadn't done anything wrong…right?

He was going to confront Ness, but the boy seemed to sense his casual approaches and always slipped away with a small grunt that Ginny translated as him being homesick and that he was best to be left alone.

On the day of the dread final event. Everyone was in an excited titter as they read another scathing story written by Rita Skeeter 'worrying' about Harry going off the deep end after having an 'episode'. No one knew _how_ she had overheard him, no one but Hermione who gained a triumphant grin and hurried off to the library to confirm something.

"Good, I'm sick and tired of Skeeter's writing." Ginny grumbled when she overheard Ron complaining about Hermione, "Aren't we all." Ness replied with a relaxed smile that seemed fake. Why was he faking a smile?

Harry was about to ask if he was alright when Professor McGonagall approached them, Ness stiffened at her approach then choked as she informed them that the champions would be congregating in a chamber off the hall after breakfast.

"Why?" Ness asked as Harry choked on his eggs spluttering. "But the task isn't until tonight!" Or, had he gotten that wrong to in his haste to sort out the mysteries in his head?

"It is still tonight, Potter. And to answer your question Earthbound, it's to greet your family."

Harry and oddly Ness—who as far as he could tell had a normal family life—looked at her with slight panic and pale faces as she went into greater detail, "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task so you'll be coming to say hello before resuming your studies."

"But my family's all the way over in America!" Ness protested his voice growing loud for a moment before he caught himself, "Are you sure they can come? They can't use magic."

She and Harry shot him a strange look before she nodded, "The headmaster has arranged for a safe journey for your mother and sister."

Ness nodded with a tense smile, "Alright, but I'm holding you to your word." Professor McGonagall shot him a disapproving look then moved to take her spot at the teachers' table.

"She must be off her rocker if she thinks the _Durselys_ are going to show up." Ron muttered, giving a small shake of his head as he glanced at Ness who was trying to finish his breakfast.

"Something wrong Ness?" Ron asked, frowning when he noticed Harry perk up a bit with the hopes that Ness would give Ron a hint as to what was going on.

Ness gave a small, "Huh?" and looked up as Ron continued, "I mean, your parents are pretty cool," he paused and muttered something about Tracey as Ness glanced away looking a little uncertain, "I just, don't really want them to get involved with Hogwarts."

They looked at Ness who glanced back with a serious expression, "I don't want them to get hurt."

"And they won't, Dumbledore will protect them." Ron pointed out, missing how Ness's hand tightened around his knife then quickly relaxed. Harry however didn't, nor did he miss the fake smile that reappeared as Ness laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "Yea, I guess. This year has just been so hectic, ya know?"

"Well it's not every year you're in a tournament." Harry tried to joke, cringing as the joke fell flat and stayed on the ground. Actually, it might have tried to bury itself in shame. Ness offered him a small nod of agreement before he finished his breakfast and followed the rest of the champions into the chamber.

He was about to reach out, console the younger boy but was interrupted by a blonde blur tackling Ness and stealing his wizard's hat.

"Behold! I am a dork!" the small girl wearing a white shirt and red overalls with white stockings cried, putting her arms out as a woman wearing a casual red dress merely shook her head at the girl's antics.

"Very funny Tracy," Ness remarked with a teasing grin that oddly, didn't reach his eyes as he tried to grab his hat back only for Tracy to skirt away and tease, "What's the magic word wizard?"

"How about, give it back before I turn you into a toad?" Ness retorted chasing after the girl while their mother apologized to the other parents who merely nodded in understanding. Fleur's parents were especially understanding as Fleur's younger sister joined Tracy in the game of hat keep away.

"No fair!" Ness cried as Tracy passed the hat to her new friend and laughed as Ness threw his hands up in fake anger before resuming the chase. It looked pretty fun, maybe he should join the chase—

"Harry!" he jumped as someone embraced him in a warm hug and spun him around, "Mrs. Weasley? Bill?" Harry exclaimed a huge grin forming as Bill looked around the chamber, grinning at the paintings he remembered and said hello.

"What are you guys doing here? I thought—that the Durselys," a disapproving frown formed on Mrs. Weasley's face and her eyes flashed. They always seemed to do that when Harry mentioned his Mother's family, always.

"Dumbledore allowed us to visit." Mrs. Weasley explained, taking a step back as Gabriella—Fleur's sister—darted past with Ness hot on her heels before he paused and stole Harry's hat, "Hah! Jokes on you guys! I got my had back!" the boy crowed as Tracy rolled her unnerving black eyes and began to whisper secrets to Gabriella, who was quickly becoming her new best friend.

"You're going to need a lot of support for the last event," Bill added with a cheeky grin that grew when he spotted Fleur (Who didn't seem fazed by his long hair or fang earrings.) checking him out, "So we twisted the old man's arm a bit-,"

"Bill!" Mrs. Weasley scolded as the dragon tamer continued, "And pestered our way here!"

"I just explained that!"

"Yes, but it was the boring way mother." Harry bit back a laugh as Mrs. Weasley shot her son a murderous glare than turned back to Harry to drown him in hugs and titter about how hectic it was at Hogwarts this year before Ness's mother interrupted her with a polite cough.

"You're Ginny's mother, right?" the woman inquired, giving Bill a nod hello then Harry, "I'm Ness's mother, Marisa Earthbound."

Mrs. Weasley nodded and gave Marisa an apologetic smile, "I'm so sorry that your son's visit to the Qudditch Cup were interrupted by Death Eaters," she gave a small shudder as Marisa merely assured her that it was no problem, things happened and that she was sure that Ness and Paula could take care of themselves.

Harry couldn't help but notice that the fixed smile that had appeared when Mrs. Weasley started talking about the World Cup had vanished the moment she had said that her son and his girlfriend were capable of handling themselves.

It almost seemed like she didn't know anything about the attack or Death Eaters and was overly confident in Ness's skills…then again, perhaps not knowing about Voldemort was for the best and Ness _was_ a bag of surprises.

Who else would fight a dragon with just a baseball bat he summoned out of nowhere and claim an egg while staring down a volley of flames? A Master Wizard, that's who.

He jumped as Bill slung an arm around his shoulder and shot him a grin, "So Harry! How about you show us the castle?"

"Us too!" Tracy quickly added, jumping into the conversation with a grin as she gestured toward Ness, "He has a terrible sense of direction." Ness shot his sister a glare and retorted, "Well at least I'm not the one who got themselves lost in a _barn!"_

"It was dark!"

"It was the middle of the day Tracey. A _three-year-old_ could find the exit to McDonald's barn."'

Tracey scowled as Ness grinned at his victory over his sister before he dragged his mother away from her 'girl talk' to show them around. They mostly stuck together due to Ness having barely any knowledge of the castle other than the trick steps and warnings of the paintings being alive.

Which did little to scare Marisa and Tracey who gave a bored, "Oh," and, "Is everything alive here?"

"Pretty much." Ness answered before Harry could correct them. Bill gave a small whistle as they passed a ghost Harry didn't know the name of and watched as they quickly skirted around Ness and his family who seemed a little surprise at her reaction to their presence.

"I've _never_ seen a ghost run off _that_ fast before." Bill noted as Ness gave a small shrug, "Eh, I've barely seen any ghosts during my time here so…"

"Really? Not even Peeves?" Harry asked, frowning when Ness shot him a confused look, somehow not knowing of the mischievous ghost who roamed the halls and harassed everyone and everything if possible.

Come to think of it…He hadn't seen Peeves in a while either, the spirit had popped up every now and then to pester him, drop water balloon on his and other students' heads but he always seemed to disappear when he was walking in Ness's proximity.

Was Peeves afraid of Ness's status and stayed away? Like how he didn't bug or prank Dumbledore or the Bloody Baron? But, then why did that other ghost quickly leave? She wasn't a trouble maker and seemed content with roaming the Third-floor halls whenever they were devoid of students and teachers.

He glanced at Ness who was warning Tracey about the murderous books he had faced in his Third Year then jokingly offered to show it to her.

"You're insane." His sister deadpanned as their mother frowned and muttered something about King and the book going at it when they brought home Ness's books.

"He beat it though!" Ness chirped as they moved on, splitting up at the towers were Ness hurried to introduce his family to his favorite teacher and Harry to show them Professor Trelawny's tower. "She's an old bat." Harry deadpanned when Bill asked how his classes with Trelawny were going.

"She always _was_ a bit out there." Mrs. Weasley tittered, "Creating predictions that had a 50% chance of coming true, finding new disasters for couples everywhere and I can't forget the time she informed me that I would have a wet Wednesday in my Fifth year."

"And you did," Bill pointed out, grinning as his mother shot him a murderous glare. During lunch Ron, Ginny and Hermione joined the tour to say hello and quickly clear up that Rita was a lying witch when they noticed Mrs. Weasley giving Hermione a disapproving look. She quickly apologized while Ginny whispered to Bill about getting their mother away from newspaper and celebrities for a bit.

Harry was a little upset to see Mrs. Weasley, Bill and Ness's family have to go grab seats as the eve of the final challenge came up and the champions were rounded up, but he was a little surprised to see the shadows of guilt on Ness's face as he fell into line.

He didn't understand _why_ Ness seemed so guilty, had he received a scolding from his mother? No, that seemed wrong, Ness would bounce back from that…Or…would he? The entire week he had been acting odd and out of sorts. Perhaps he was overthinking it, looking into something and reading it wrong.

He barely hung out with Ness, and when they did it was to find secrets or to ensure that Harry wasn't getting himself killed. It had been a miracle that Ness had sixth sense and realized that Snape was trying to expel him.

Harry gave a firm nod, deciding that he was merely overthinking it and that Ness and his friends had merely found something they weren't sure how to share.

 _"But his friends don't know either."_ A small voice nagged as Bagman started to explain the rules. Like everyone guessed, it was a maze filled with traps and monsters they had faced in their school year. They would go in one by one and try and find the cup to be deemed the winner, if anyone was outmatched by an obstacle or injured they would have to fire a red spark into the air so the teachers would come and find them.

"Everyone ready?" no one answered, the older champions were mentally preparing themselves while Adaliz and Alexander just gave the maze a stony glare, Ness merely looked ahead with a far-off gaze.

"Good! First up, Victor!" the World Champion Qudditch player nodded and headed inside, earning cheers from the girls watching in the nice cozy bleachers.

Five minutes passed then-"Delacour!" Fleur flipped her hair over her shoulder and strutted inside.

Another five minutes-"Diggery!"

Harry glanced at his wand and ran through a list of spells in his head—"Nobel!"

He glanced around and was a little surprised to see Alexander prepared for once, normally the boy was rattled with nerves—"Vadam!"

"Hey, Harry." He glanced over his shoulder to see Ness with a chipper, sportsmen like grin that didn't reach his unsettling eyes, "Keep an eye on your back, alright?"

"Thanks-," he started when Bagman called, "Earthbound!" and Ness hurried inside his smile slipping as walked past Harry. Fake, the smile had been a fake and yet the warning sent shivers down his spine—"Potter!"

 _"Keep an eye on your back."_ Bounced through his head as he walked inside then broke into a sprint, keeping his eyes peeled as his mind spun into overdrive, being ready to defend himself at a moment's notice.

As he moved deeper and deeper into the maze he felt like he was in one of Dudley's horror games, there was next to no noise and he had yet to run into a monster. Had his breathing always been so loud and grating?

Harry shivered as a bone chilling cold flooded his lungs, strangling the air from his lungs and alerting him to a monster he prayed to never see again as he turned a corner.

A dementor rising from a box, "A boggart." He realized with a small sigh of relief before he yelled, _"Riddikulus!"_ then resealed the monster inside the box before moving on.

 _"Looks like everyone's still in the game."_ Harry noted after slowing down in the middle of a crossroad and watching the sky for a bit. This unsettled him for a moment, but he wasn't sure why as he moved on and stopped in low fog of gold mist.

"Hermione was right about studying new spells." He covered his mouth and nose and stepped into the mist, knowing that the other three paths were just dead ends. For a moment, the world seemed to flip and the sky was suddenly blow his feet, he nearly cried out in alarm until he realized that even though he was standing on nothing he still felt solid ground.

 _"Did the mist just…change my perspective?"_ He slowly moved forward, feeling unnerved as he saw his feet land on nothing but felt the grass soften from his weight. "Bizarre." Was all he had to say to the gold mist when he cleared it. Allowing him to continue down the narrow pathway and turn right into an open circle of paths.

"They do _not_ kid around with their maze." He grumbled, taking the second left path when he spotted Ness leaving the seventh right pathway, "O-oh!" did Ness just stutter? "Hey Harry! How ya doing?"

"Good I suppose, I haven't really run into anything yet," Harry slowly replied, Dumbledore and Professor Kale's warnings coming back to haunt him, "How about you?"

"Awful, I think I ran into just about every monster in here." Ness joked, resting his scratch covered bat on his shoulder, his other hand devoid of a wand for some reason. He couldn't be relying on _just_ his baseball skills, was he?

"Have you seen anyone?" Harry asked, the eeriness and utterly quiet creating knots of fear in his stomach. Something was very, _very_ wrong. But what?

"Just Cedric and Adaliz," Ness replied his eyes flickering with some emotion, "Cedric just came from fighting a Blast Ended Shew and Adaliz was dealing with some spider before I helped her out." He frowned and tilted his head, causing his baseball cap (Wasn't he wearing a wizard's hat when he came in?) to slip a bit.

"What about you?"

"Not a soul."

Ness cringed and muttered, "Something's off."

Harry nodded in agreement before he stated, "Stay safe." And moved on, wandering down the paths with his eyes peeled for trouble that never came until he made a fifth left and found the path blocked by a creature with a large body of a lion and the head of a woman wearing a beaded headdress-a Sphinx. Who seemed very unnerved by something.

It took her a moment to spot Harry, but when she did she broke out into a fanged grin, her nostrils flaring a bit a she picked up his scent, "Ah…my first victim." The cat woman purred taking a small step forward and studying him with narrowed cat yellow eyes that held an endless amount of knowledge.

"You er, give out riddles to wandering travelers, correct?" Harry asked, wishing that he had paid more attention to that demonic book Hagrid had given them.

"Correct boy," the Sphinx replied, "And you, are in a very interesting riddle right now."

"I am?"

She gave a low nod and glanced at a hedge, as if trying to look over it for some reason. Was there a monster she could smell lurking on the other side? Or…something else? It took her a moment but she finally relaxed and resumed eyeing him.

"Yes, you're a wizard, and yet your-," she abruptly stopped and allowed a rumble to be heard before she gave him a huge grin, "Here's an idea. I'll tell you your riddle, if you answer mine."

"And if I get your riddle right, will I still be able to pass?" Harry asked, shoving down his curiosity for a moment as the Sphinx blinked, her eyes flickering with confusion until she remembered why she was here. "Of course."

Satisfied, he nodded and awaited the riddle, "Tell me young wizard. What does man equally fear besides death?" that seemed so easy compared to the riddles he had grown up hearings. Yet at the same time, hard. What else did man fear? Death was the main fear since it was the unknown, the unsolvable riddle of life that no wizard or Muggle could solve.

Did man fear the bitter truth? The ones that could split apart realities and create chaos? Or the dark? Where possible monsters lurked, hidden in the shadows? Unknown to all—

Harry paused in his train of thought, and face palmed at the answer looking him right in the face. "The unknown, man fears death and the unknown."

"Took you a while." The Sphinx laughed, moving aside to allow Harry through, "Now, for your riddle." He flinched as the light humor changed to cold, hard interest, "Why do you, a wizard allow an unknown to linger around him?"

"What?"

"You haven't sensed it?" she asked before she cut herself off with a low chuckle, "No, of course not. He probably avoids using his powers here." Her tail coiled around her legs as she tilted her head, a fanged grin on her face, "I'll solve this riddle, perhaps the answer is mankind messing with a forbidden project, or an honest mix up. Whatever the answer is, I implore you to choose your friends carefully."

Shivers ran down his spine as she quietly growled, "His scent is faint, but it clings to your puny body like a cherished shirt. If you are not careful, you may align yourself as the enemy."

"What?" but she ignored his question and moved past him, probably to get away from the scent of the 'unknown'. Leaving Harry feeling even more bewildered—and unnerved than before. It was really starting to grate on his nerves.

Yes, this was a maze with a bunch of twist and turns. Yes, he was most likely going to have to fight against other wizards. Yes, Ness was acting weird and oddly guilt ridden but it shouldn't be leaning so heavily on his shoulders!

He needed to focus, to calm down before he got himself hurt for being too lost in his thoughts which were loudly bouncing around his head, Dumbledore, Professor Kale and now the Sphinx's warnings replaying over and over again.

"For Pete's sake shut up!" Harry started moving to slap his face to focus when he heard a branch snap and an inhale of breath. Perhaps being paranoid was a good thing, if he hadn't been intently focusing on his surroundings as his mind raged he wouldn't heard the branch break.

Or the inhale and the beginning words of a spell, _"Protego!"_ a fire red shield exploded to life in front of Harry just as a hex flew his way and exploded. _"Lumios!"_ his stomach dropped as he found himself facing Victor Crum, his eyes glassy and his wand pointed at his heart as he prepared to mumble another spell.

Harry braced himself to get out of the way as he yelled, _"Protego!"_ once more. He wasn't expecting the spell—no, the _curse_ to be so powerful. It sent him stumbling back as the curse hungrily reached out for him only to be defeated by the crumbling shield. " _Expelliarmus!"_

Victor stumbled into a bush and yelped as his wand flew to the side, allowing Harry to make a wild lunge to grab it from the quickly recovering Victor. His attempt was meet with a powerful kick to the stomach from the older boy and a hard shove as he struggled to breath and yell another shield spell.

His mind sadly only supplying support spells as Victor bellowed, " _Crucio!"_ and his scar started to throb, pain coursing through his bones and nerves like lightning as he tried to do more than scream.

He needed to fight, he needed to get up! But all he could do was bite his lip, holding in the screams of pain that desperately wished to be heard and leave his throat raw.

He faintly heard another branch breaking as he tried to push his burning legs into a kneeling position so he could stand and reach for his wand as the pain abruptly stopped, leaving dots in his eyes as someone pushed him down and made him look up to the sky.

"Yo! Harry!" he blinked and managed a weak wheeze as Ness gazed down at him, "Dude. You _cannot_ catch a break." A shaky smile appeared on the boy's face before he went to check on Victor who was giving a weak groan.

Warmth coursed through his body, healing the phantom pain and oddly, causing his scar to burn a bit as Ness returned with a grin, "Bad guy is properly defeated, and his wand has been destroyed!"

"You broke his wand?" the question came out like a wheeze as he sat up, surprised by how confused Ness looked, "Well, yea. No one seems to do anything without a wand so, I broke his, so he couldn't try and murder you again." Then a sly grin appeared, "Unless, you _liked_ getting your butt kicked by the great Quidditch Player."

"Har-har." Harry stood up and picked his wand, shivering at the sudden rush over cold overtaking him, "I'm not that kind of fan boy Ness."

"Could have fooled me Mr.-I-Fly-In-The-Middle-Of-A-Hurricane."

"It wasn't that bad."

" _Cows_ were flying in the sky that day. Cows." Ness deadpanned, his serious look ruined by the smile desperately trying to break through.

"Sure," Harry replied, rolling his eyes before he looked at Victor, "So um…we should better alert the teachers to this."

"And uh, how do we do that?"

Harry shot him a look then remembered how Ness had _barely_ used his wand. Actually, did the boy even _have_ a wand? He would have to ask about that later. For now he sent a firework over Victor who was knocked out cold thanks to Ness's skillful swings and looked at Ness who looked at him, at a loss at what to do.

"You don't think he took anyone else out…do you?" Ness asked they found themselves slowly moving through the maze together.

"Maybe…But I don't think so." Harry studied the empty sky, "No one shot a firework into the sky. Although…whoever was controlling Victor probably didn't want to draw attention to themselves."

"Controlling—someone was using one of the forbidden curses on him!?"

"Yup." He glanced at Ness, hoping for an answer but Ness's face was hidden under his hat as he looked at his shoes muttering about how messed up this was.

They walked in silence after that, both shooting each other uncomfortable glances as no monsters faced them, just traps that they easily progressed through until—

"Hey the cup!" Indeed, it was. Resting on a platform was a gold goblet like trophy that glowed under the rising moon, a small grin formed as Ness pointed his bat to the sky jokingly exclaiming, "World class trouble magnet and incompetent Wizard discover trophy through sheer luck! Read all about it on page 4!"

Harry couldn't help but laugh before he realized something, "So…who gets the cup?" Ness shot him a look of 'you're joking, right?' and gestured at him, then himself. "Dude, we both found it, we both won and we're probably the only people awake at the moment. I know I'm not leaving you alone here and I'm not sticking around while you find more trouble. We're _both_ going."

"Alright, alright." He held his hands up and smiled, "Just asking." Ness scoffed and glanced at the trophy, "On three?"

"Three." Harry agreed as Ness started to count down, then reached forward in sync.

"Hey uh Harry," he glanced away from the cup just as his hand wrapped around the cool metal which felt…off for some reason, "Sorry." Ness glanced away, guilt clearly written on his face as the trophy suddenly pulled them forward into a blur of colors.

* * *

 **Sorry for the long delay! I wasn't sure how this chapter (And others.) looked since I was writing in Harry's perspective and wanted to get some confirmation that it looked alright. (I don't like Harry that much.) Also, why didn't anyone inform me that I was spelling Fleur's first and last name wrong?! I seriously thought it was spelled Flur... T_T  
**

 **Anyway, just in case you forgot about my random ocs, Nobel is Adaliz's last name and Alexander is Vadam.**


	26. Chapter 26, Meltdown

Harry landed on a patch of grass, his senses spinning out of control as his mind pieced together what had happened. He and Ness had won, they had grabbed the trophy which had brought them—a quick, dizzying glance up as something skinny and grey ran past informed him he was in a graveyard, But why? a Portkey, right, the trophy had been a trap! A portkey which—

The air around him dropped into dry ice temperatures as his mind supplied, _"Which Ness knew about."_

He tried to look at Ness, who had landed beside him and had someone's boot on his head, forcing him into the grass as the owner muttered a quick stunning spell as something inhuman rasped for Wormtail.

If Wormtail was here—the coward—then that meant that _thing_ was here, the _thing_ that had killed that old man in the garden for his pet snake Nagini in his dream. And as far as Harry knew, Wormtail followed—and currently served- only one master. Voldemort.

He tried to fight but quickly stopped when Wormtail gave a squeaky recollection of the 'Outsider's' work, how the boy had followed Barty Jr.'s orders flawlessly and took out the other champions earning a sickening low chuckle as the Thing addressed the 'Outsider'— _Ness._

"Good work _boy_." Hate and venom intertwined into that one single word as Harry heard Ness somehow get to his feet, "Perhaps your kind isn't so useless after all."

"Yea, yea." His voice sounded empty, regretful even, but it wasn't enough to quell the hurt and coals of anger raging inside Harry as he tried to figure out _why_ Ness had attacked the others- _his friends even!_

"This means you won't hurt them. Right-," he barely got to finish when Voldemort hissed, "Kill the Outsider!"

Harry and Ness barely had time to react as Wormtail did as told his voice wavering with fear but also power as he screamed, _"Avada Kardiva!"_ and knocked Ness off his feet. His body dead before it fell to the ground with an echoing thud that sent shockwaves down his spine as he tried to process what happened.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a roar of rage and disgust coursing through his veins as Voldemort rasped, "Is it dead?" It, not he. IT. Ness had been a misguided pawn who Voldemort could barely care about despite going the extra mile and bringing him the boy behind his downfall like a gift wrapped present.

A shuffle and the soft crunch of dead grass pulled him from his thoughts as Wormtail checked the body then murmured a spell before stammering, "I believe so my lord. Sh-hould I use it again?"

There was a long pause before Voldemort gave a soft, "No, begin the ritual."

"Yes my lord." He grunted as Wormtail forcibly positioned his stiff body into a sitting potion, then tied him to a cross. His arms tightly bound and his vision forcibly facing forward.

Allowing him to see a cauldron bubbling a milky white, a basket and a tomb stone covered in moss and grim. His stomach churned as he faintly read, _Tom Riddle_ in the in script as Wormtail started to busy himself, his movements hurried but restrained by fear as he mumbled and fiddled with the cauldron.

How fitting that someone was dead, and they were in a graveyard. But why? Harry quickly stopped wondering why as he scanned the empty fields when he heard a strangled sound erupting from Wormtail and looked back just in time to see the man _slicing_ off his hand and allowing it to fall into the cauldron as incoherent pained babbling accompanied the sacrifice.

He couldn't look away even though he felt bile actively churning and his eyes watering from the sight of the remaining stump of Wormtail's left hand. What kind of spell or potion required the user to lose a body part and—

 _"B-blood of t-the enemy…forcible taken to restrict your f-foe."_

Before he could process _that._ Wormtail forcibly sliced open his bound wrist with trembling hands— _hand_ and allowed a drop of blood to fall into a hastily produced bottle from the man's ragged robes before he staggered back to the bubbling caldron to offer the demonic potion his blood.

The world around him seem to grow unbearably cold and sharp as the potion glowed a violent red, burning into his wide eyes which couldn't look away out of unspoken horror and a small hope that it would backfire.

 _Please don't work."_ He pleaded, vaguely aware of his right hand trying to pull free and grab his wand to interfere as Wormtail dropped the worm like body of Voldemort into the boiling cauldron.

For an eternity, nothing happened as the cauldron suddenly calmed down. The blood red fading to a milky pink as the moon shined down with an almost hopeful ray of light on the suddenly to quiet graveyard.

After what felt like five minutes Harry felt his body relax and his breathing -which had jumped through levels of panicked bursts to barely drawing any air in- return to normal. Until he jinxed it by giving a soft sigh and closing his eyes to calm the swirling emotions attempting to make him visibly ill if he wasn't already.

Like a viper, fog curled around his legs forcing his eyes to snap open in dread as he watched a gangly thin figure rise up from the caldron, hidden behind the thick mist acting as curtain. A voice boarding on a faint wheeze brimming authority and undertone of icy glee ordered, "Robe." The mere word sending the sobbing Wormtail into a pained scramble as he picked up a black robe hidden behind the now empty basin and placed it over the figure's pale head.

Allowing the man Harry already knew from his vivid nightmares to step through, his chalk white skin and snake like features almost glowing in the moonlight as Lord Voldemort blinked his snake-like eyes, first examining Ness who was looking up at the sky in frozen disbelief and anger then looking at him and doing something far worse than Harry expected.

He smirked, his eyes twinkling with maniacal glee as he studied Harry's face, admiring the expression caught between being utterly horrified at his revival or looking ready to hurl from the sight of his dead friend and reborn killer of his parents.

Even Wormtail looked a little uneasy at his lord's gleeful expression as the monster of a man slowly took notice of his own body as if he had been to amused by his private joke to notice that he was once again _alive_ and sadly, carrying a wand.

"M-my lord…" Wormtail wheezed, weakly trying to gesture to his stump of a hand while nervously studying the man, "Y-you promised…"

"Moment Wormtail." He and Harry flinched from the cold edge to his voice that was sadly not of malice, but delight as his scarlet eyes eyed the mark on Wormtail's hand, "This is a moment of history…Everyone should be able to witness this…"

Wormtail studied his master, then glanced at Ness before he caught up whimpering kiss ups and mumbles of how wise his Lord was as Voldemort pressed the mark of the Death Eaters tattooed onto Wormtail's hand.

It was a miracle that he didn't cry out from the blinding pain emitting from his scare as he heard faint pops and eager whispers that quickly died down when they spotted something, perhaps Ness's dead body, perhaps him. He couldn't tell as he fought back tears of pain swimming in his eyes.

As quickly as the searing pain came, it stopped. Signaling that Voldemort's followers had all arrived. "Good…good you're all here…Mostly anyway." He forced his eyes open just in time to see Voldemort give a disapproving glare at those who weren't there. It's withering gaze never faltering as some of the braver members of his sick, twisted court stepped forward to explain some of the members absent. Some in Azkaban, betrayal and sadly death to protect their Lord.

"No matter…. For today is a special day!" He sounded like a five-year-old at a birthday party, actually breaking out into a grin as he spread his arms wide, "It appears that saying—the enemy of my enemy is a friend— _was_ correct!" with a sweeping gesture he pointed to Ness's corpse one that caused the crowd to tense as one then relax as their Lord announced, "Thanks to two surprisingly fateful followers, Dumbledore's secret weapon is dead!"

Wormtail perked up a little as Harry looked at Ness then Voldemort trying figure out what he meant by secret weapon. Dumbledore wouldn't need a weapon, he was like everyone else, believing Voldemort to be gone for good!

Although…didn't Ness make a joke or suggest something about Voldemort coming back to life with 'Phoenix Feather' or 'Water of Life'?

Oh, the irony of how right Ness was, foreseeing this very moment of Voldemort coming back to life and being dead for it. He jumped as someone stepped forward, their hood hiding their face to try but not before he spotted a very familiar lock of bleached blonde hair that a certain Slythrin boy had.

"Forgive me for doubting your word my lord, but how can we be sure that _thing_ is truly dead?"

 _"How can we be sure that Voldemort is truly alive?"_ Harry bitterly questioned as the man pointed to Ness's dead body, why on earth was the elder Malfoy asking such a pointless question that would surely test their cold-hearted leader's patience?

To his surprise Voldemort merely smirked and gestured to Wormtail who was looking so proud of himself despite still shaking like a life, "The Wormtail spent the entire third trail hiding in his pocket, ensuring that he couldn't use shields or deflection attempts if he suspected our meeting to go amiss."

"He was a pawn my lord?" an eager and awed voice cried out, quickly being shushed by the more faithful followers, "Of course my dear Carrow, the moment he revealed his ties to his Mudblood family and friends he quickly joined our side to protect them." Voldemort shot a look mixed with mirth and pure hate toward the corpse which everyone was carefully watching, "He never had the time to worry about Harry let alone protect himself once Wormtail killed him."

Proud and envious murmurs rose up into the air then halted as Voldemort turned to Wormtail, "In fact, I think our little friend deserves a gift for his brave services."

Wormtail muffled a gasp and squeaked, "R-really my lord?"

"Of course, your wrist Wormtail." He did as told. Holding out his left hand and watching as Voldemort tapped it with his wand, silently performing a spell and pulling back as a pure white light began to take shape.

Molding itself into a perfect replica of Wormtai's severed hand and twitching when the man tried to wriggle his fingers, a childish grin of relief and glee on his face as he reached down and grinded a branch to dust. "T-thank you my lord." Wormtail managed, looking ready to faint from happiness with his new 'gift'.

Voldemort gave him a dismissive wave as he focused on Harry, his eyes twinkling with a light of pure sadistic glee, hinting that he was going to do something worse than kill him as he forced his face into a set scowl. A bit relived to see that the spell had faded away in the resurrection of his lord and master.

"Now I believe our dear _friend_ owes me a little something in return for saving his life." Voldemort stated, his high voice rising a pitch as a jeering smirk settle on his face. If one could call it that.

The Death Eaters nodded in agreement and laughed as Harry allowed a bit of confusion to slip through his steely hate filled glare, perhaps it was Ness's spirit egging him on as he sarcastically snapped, "Oh yea, I _definitely_ meant to be a blood donor for your little party."

The laughs grew even louder and colder, sending small shivers of unease down his spine as Voldemort's smirk grew, threatening to rip his papery skin as he mirthfully looked at him like a toddler calling a cat a dog.

"You, naïve fool, surely they've taught you about those _abominations_ of nature?"

He glanced at Ness then retorted, "Americans are loud idiots, not freaks." As the laughter grew hysterical and Voldemort's grin slipped a little bit, anger first appearing in his eyes then surprise, "You truly don't know…" he breathed silencing the crowd who realized that Harry wasn't bluffing to seem brave.

"How amusing, and utterly pathetic. The boy who lived being feed spoonful after spoonful of information only needed for the moment, not the future." Harry scowled then faltered at how unnervingly genuine Voldemort sounded, even looking a little disgusted for some reason.

"Those muggle loving fools swept everything under the rug just to save their own hide after _they_ invaded and interrupted our war." Voldemort hissed, his nostrils flaring a bit as some Death Eaters glumly confirmed this, one of them mumbling loud enough for him to hear, "The Ministry went so far as the blacklist books and American wizards the best they could…" before Voldemort shushed them.

"Perhaps we should play a little game Potter," Voldemort offered, lightly tapping his wand against his hand like a school teacher, "A lively duel if I might add."

He bit his tongue, bitterly reminding himself that he needed an out, a way to slip free and find the Portkey to return back to Hogwarts with Ness's body.

"It's simple. You win, and my followers shall let you leave after informing you of your 'friend's' race and history. If you lose…" he grinned and gestured to the grave behind him, "You can join my pathetic father twenty feet under the ground."

Before he could stall or even object. The ropes binding his hands suddenly vanished and he fell forward with a yelp, his numb hands flying for his wand as Voldemort whispered, " _Impero!"_ and locked him in the familiar murky darkness Professor Moody had so many times before.

Only he could properly make out his surroundings in the hazy fog as Voldemort taunted him, "First, we bow. Surely Dumbeldore has taught you that much."

His forgotten anger crashed down on him in waves as he felt the familiar weight of a hand pressing down on him, trying to control him like a puppet as he slowly felt his body bow.

"Good, good. And now we take ten steps back and-," before Voldemort could finish with his lesson the ground rumble with a powerful shockwave, knocking everyone to the ground and leaving their minds spinning in a confused daze.

Harry blinked and shook his jumbled head as everything felt…off and hurt like nuts. Had he taken that bad a fall? He cringed and shook his head no as another shockwave rippled through the ground and oddly, through him in flashes of sunny yellow.

"Who is doing this!?" Voldemort demanded his voice strained with rage and an emotion he couldn't place at the moment as the shockwaves fell into an angry rhythm of rock n roll, the bright yellow moving to a pepper red, then a crimson.

"It's the boy!" someone screamed over the 'noise' as the 'sound' pounded in Harry's head, making it hard for him to focus let alone breath, "How is this possible?! He checked! He shouldn't be-,"

"OH MY GOD! HE'S A ZOMBIE!"

"Zombies don't use mind waves moron!"

"Vampire!"

"Not that either!"

"Who cares?! KILL HIM!"

"No!" he was surprised to hear his own voice join the noise and to find that his eyes were opened, barely able to focus on the dead grass underneath him as he pushed himself into a kneeling position. Watching in horror as venomous green filled the air and flew toward Ness, who was alive and sitting up, his breathing unsteady and his eyes unable to focus.

"Ness!" Harry screamed.

Ness flinched then threw himself forward, allowing the spells to slam into the tombstones behind him. A haze of grey dust flew from the sky as Ness slowly pushed himself to his feet.

His entire body shaking as he swayed from side to side. "Ness?" the boy didn't answer him as he looked at Voldemort who was getting to his feet with loud, racking wheezes for air.

"Of course, your kind would be able to defy nature." Voldemort growled raising a hand to point his wand at Ness, " _Crucio!"_

"No!" tightening his grip around his almost forgotten wand, Harry threw himself into motion, using it to stand up and yell the first thing that came to his static filled mind, _"Expliarmous!"_

"You fool!" Voldemort roared as the spell was abruptly canceled and the wand flew harmlessly into the tangled heap of Death Eaters, "He'll kill us all!"

"Like you were about to do?!" Harry spat, refusing to allow his frown of worry show through as Ness pulled out his bat and readied it, "Ness, the Portkey! We can-," Harry started when Ness charged forward with an inhuman scream of rage, sending another shockwave loose that sent Voldemort and the few followers who were standing to their knees.

Someone screamed in fear as Ness swung his bat and connected with Voldemort's right shoulder. His stomach twisting into tight knots as Ness sent Voldemort crashing to the ground with a strangled yell of pain that shattered the fearful silence.

Chaos erupted across the graveyard, Death Eaters barking orders to contain Ness who met every challenger with the angry red shockwaves, blinding flashes and a swing that could—and would- break bone. Wormtail was doing his best to comfort Voldemort while yelling for their master's wand.

It was like a war, horrible and inhuman as wizards fell to their knees either crying hysterically or because they had met their demise with Ness's bat, the boy was moving drunkenly like a wild tiger with enough venomous hate in his eyes to kill a viper as Harry watched, Professor Kale's warning bouncing through his head.

 _"When the one bounded by Earth snaps, hit the ground."_

And here he was, lying on the ground in fear and awe at Ness's power as the large group fell apart, the survivors fleeing while Wormtail tried to get Voldemort to his feet.

"Not so fast." The cold around them dropped back into dry ice as Ness suddenly loomed over the villains, his eyes foggy with hate and anger. Still unable to focus on anything. Wormtail gave a scream as Voldemort, the man who had spat in Death's face and evaded the grim reaper's grasp recoiled in _terror_ and pure hate.

Harry couldn't blame them, Ness seemed so inhuman, and his voice…good lord, it was empty and pained but still able to sound commanding as the boy pointed his lightly blood-stained bat at Voldemort's head.

"You wizards seem to only understand force…So…" he pulled Voldemort's forgotten wand from his pocket and broke it into four pieces before dropping it into Wormtail's hand. "Pull me into any more of your schemes again. Threaten my family again…. And I'll kill you." It was a low whisper, but it was loud enough to echo in Harry's ears as he watched from his spot in the grass.

"Then leave." Voldemort spat, "I have no business with filthy PSI users like _you_!"

Ness gave Voldemort a long, foggy look before a shockwave ripped through the cold. Making them recoil in pain, "I didn't _want t_ o come here." Ness explained the shockwave pulsing in rhythm as he spoke, "I was _forced_ here. By _Dumbledore._ And trust me. I _plan_ on leaving the moment this silly tournament is _over."_

"Then I doubt we'll have any problems in the future." Voldemort hissed, nudging Wormtail who gave a frightful nod and Apperated them to safety. Leaving Harry alone with Ness who was still studying the spot where Voldemort had been.

"Harry." He jumped, his body shaking as Ness's eyes focused on him, "I hate magic. I hate being forced to die. And I hate wizards." He could only give a blank look, unsure what to say as Ness's eyes rolled up into his head and he fainted.

Allowing calm to settle over the Graveyard. He waited a good ten minutes before he stood up, or rather tried to stand up. His body felt like someone had forced him into DJ Booth with exercise machines while blaring loud music. Shattering every nerve and muscle in the process.

He managed a weak curse as he fought against the waves of nausea and the dam of tears waiting to break free as he grabbed Ness's limp form and dragged him over to the Portkey, flinching every time Ness stirred or gave a sharp inhale.

"I'm a friend." He whispered, but it did little to calm him, and he doubted Ness would care at the moment as he wrapped trembling fingers around the cool metal and teleported back to Hogwarts.

* * *

 **Figured I might as well post this chapter before I possibly lose power thanks to another snow storm.**


	27. Chapter 27 The Discovery

The world came through in pained bursts of sound, feelings and sight. One moment Harry could see Ms. Weasley and his friends standing over him, then he could hear their worried yells followed by someone announcing everyone to be calm, then he would feel the cool air blowing against his numb body, the grass tickling the back of his neck and hands, the feel of someone's hands taking his pulse and moving his hair out of his eyes as his scar and head throbbed as if someone had played rock at the loudest volume.

Then it would repeat itself over, and over again until it stopped, and everything came through in a solid mishmash. "Oh thank god!" Ms. Weasley cried as Harry blinked his eyes and struggled to breath, "Don't do that!" Hermione ordered, looking a little hysterical as she and Ron hugged him to death.

"Whu?" he paused and moved his numb tongue around the inside of his mouth, trying to figure out why he couldn't speak as he heard someone yelling Ness's name. Ness.

"Ness isn't a wizard!" he blurted out, only it sounded like, "Ess is't a wizuard," thanks to his numb tongue. The recent events replaying in his mind as he tried to explain himself to Hermione and Ron who were looking at Ness with worry before focusing solely on him.

Understanding that Ness was involved somehow but not sure why as the boy merely studied the sky, his eyes still unfocused as his sister and mother shook him and tried to get him to respond.

"He's-," Harry tried when Mad Eyed Moody broke up the tight knot of family and friends, "Settle down." He ordered as Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey gently lead Ness's mother and sister way promising to do everything in their power to get Ness back to normal.

"This is too public," Mad Eyed Moody grumbled, glaring at the quiet crowd watching the scene with slight horror and confusion, "Come on,"

"Professor, Ness—Voldemort! He's back!" he stammered as Mad Eyed Moody gently lead him away, from the crowd slowly resuming their noise as Bagman announced something.

"You saw him?" Mad Eyed Moody questioned, his wooden leg clicking loudly against the marble floor as Harry nodded and tried to clarify what had happened in the maze before moving onto Voldemort.

As he spoke he noticed his teacher's working eye growing foggy with…something, he couldn't tell. Perhaps it was shock from Harry witnessing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's rebirth, or from Ness's betrayal and outburst or—

"Excuse me!" Mad Eyed Moody briskly picked up the pace, dragging Harry who had paused to try and see who was calling them, "Hey! Mate!" it was the camera man who seemed fond of Ness and his friends, what was his name…? Coco? Charlie? Chip? Yes, that seemed right.

Chip Adams…? Alright…but why was he _here_ in the castle and jumping up and down trying to get Mad Eyed's attention?

"Professor, I think he wants to speak with you-," Harry started when Mad Eyed Moody jerked on his arm, his grip tightening as he grunted, "Ignore him, he just wants the latest scoop-,"

"Barty Crouch Junior!" Harry cringed as the man stopped and spun around, his eyes falling onto Chip who was pointing a camera at his face, his posture casually falling into an easy defense pose, "Is it true that you murdered your father _and_ manipulated young Earthbound?"

"Murdered?" Harry repeated, feeling sick as he remembered an insane Barty Crouch muttering to himself about someone. He looked at his teacher who was growing angry as Chip pressed on, "Also, were you the one to attack the _real_ Mad Eyed Moody and lock him up in a trunk? We have promising eye witnesses to the entire thing-,"

"Advada-," Mad Eyed Moody started his wand stabbing the air as he prepared the spell, "Cheese!" Chip yelped, abusing his camera's flash until the bright light bounced around the polished hall, blinding the imposter and Harry who took advantage of the distraction and ripped his arm away.

"Stupidfy!" a low thud echoed through the hall as the bright lights faded, allowing him to see Ginny and Luna in front of a group of bewildered teachers and Chip's partner.

"Cameras for the win." Chip muttered as Dumbledore calmly walked up to the stunned 'teacher' and summoned ropes to bound his arms and legs, "Snape, I do you have some truth potion?" Snape gave a small nod, "I believe we'll be needing that to interrogate our guest."

"Of course." Snape bustled upstairs while Dumbledore glanced at Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, who had Ness on a magical stretcher, "Minerva, could you inform Krakaroff and Madam Maxine that their students are awake and we have the true culprit captured?"

"Krakaroff fled a couple moments ago." Professor McGonagall informed him, "Maxine is already in your office."

"Splendid, come along Harry." He gave a numb nod as Dumbledore glanced at Luna and Ginny who was checking up on Chip, "You two Ms. Lovegood, Weasley and your other friend."

The girls stiffened, a flicker of apprehension on their faces before they nodded and dragged Selvis out of the crowd of teachers, ignoring his attempts to wriggle free as they followed them into the closest office available at the moment. Professor Moody's.

Ginny, Luna and Selvis quickly rushed over to the trunk, ignoring Harry's bewildered look as Selvis picked the lock and threw it open, allowing the girls to carefully pull out a limp and severally malnourished Professor Mad Eyed Moody.

"Sir, are you okay?" Ginny called as Dumbledore quickly joined them, his bushy white eyebrows moving a couple inches in surprise at the trio's prior knowledge.

"It appears that you three have been very busy over the school year." Dumbledore murmured, looking at Harry to see if he knew about this as well. He didn't.

"It's one of the few perks we have." Ginny state before she glowered at the imposter—Barty Crouch Jr., "So, are you going to start talking, or are we going to do it for you?"

"I'll never tell." Barty Crouch Jr. growled, flinching as Selvis's eyes lit up with delight, "Fine by me! We've wasted our entire school year trying to figure out who the heck you are!"

"Selvis has been attempting to make truth telling spells," Luna airily added, "So far they haven't been working properly…"

"It's quite painful." Selvis unhelpfully offered, tapping his wand against his hand. Dumbledore glanced at the trio then got down to business as they waited for Snape's return, "Perhaps you three could tell us your involvement with Barty Crouch Jr."

"Not it!" Selvis quickly offered as he busied himself with nudging Mad Eyed Moody awake to see how bad he was, leaving Ginny to explain. And explain she did.

Talking about how they were throwing theories around about the invisible voice and worrying about Peter who was still on the run, then how they connected Harry and Ness being involved in the very dangerous tournament in hopes of killing them both given their titles but failed along the way. (Thankfully.)

And finally about Ness, Ginny hesitated a bit and glanced to Selvis who scowled and took up the role of informant, "We suspected that Mad Eyed Moody was the bad guy thanks to him suddenly appearing out of nowhere and Winky blabbing about how Crouch was 'sick' and making it sound like he desperately needed her despite seeming just fine until the last few events. So, when he stepped out of his office one-night Ness sneaked inside while we acted as the lookouts, we kept in touch with my own invention to ensure that he didn't get caught."

"But he got caught." Harry deadpanned, a knot tightening in his stomach as the guilt in Ness's eyes made sense, "And Barty Jr. forced him to help."

"Somehow. He wouldn't tell us anything other than that he was worried about Paula." Ginny answered, "It clued us in that something was wrong since Paula um…doesn't appreciate wizards over here."

She didn't? Well…that explains the death glare she gave everyone when she stayed at Hogwarts for a bit. Actually, no, it didn't. What had they done to warrant such a hateful glare?

"I see…and you three were waiting on the sidelines to confront Barty Jr. The moment the event ended." Dumbledore guessed.

"Of course!" Selvis scoffed, "I've been collecting evidence the moment we started to notice something off about our dear old teacher. Originally it was to figure out Barty senior's mood but now…"

"Now we can use it to force a confession out of a certain _someone."_ Ginny finished, glaring at Barty Jr who was biting his lip and focusing on the ground as if it might swallow him up.

"Agreed. Now Harry your side of the story."

Oh, right. With a shaky breath he did his best to explain noticing the worried glances the trio were giving each other as he explained Voldemort's proclaim of 'saving him from the enemy' after killing the 'thing', their attempt to duel and Ness's sudden rise from death and the earthquakes under his feet.

"It was terrifying." He recalled, his right hand rubbing circles into his wand, "The Death Eaters and Voldemort were terrified of Ness as he just went off like a madman, attacking with his bat and those weird earthquakes. And when it was just Voldemort they had an eerie conversation where Voldemort was calling him a filthy PSI user and Ness was ordering him to never threaten his family again and saying he would stay out of his business the moment this year ended."

The trio exchanged a small look of horror while Harry carefully studied them, then Dumbledore, then finally Barty Crouch Jr. who was trembling.

"Well…I know who I'm avoiding for the rest of the year." Selvis started to grumble when Barty Crouch Jr. suddenly muttered, "It wasn't supposed to go like that." And his body began to violently twitch just as Snape returned. He was about to hand Dumbledore the vial when the elderly wizard stopped him, his face grim as Barty continued, his voice tight with shock and fear.

"He wasn't supposed to live—he couldn't have lived—the pawn he wasn't supposed to—Lord Voldemort should have easily killed that thing but-,"

A shaky breath as Mad Eyed Moody's fake eyeball began to bulge and move out of the eye socket with a slow, disgusting pop. Revealing foggy grey eyes that moved around in a restless fashion, "I was supposed to help my lord—Bringing his rival to him, ensuring his safety and victory so he could be reborn and—But then—It was almost flawless—The pawn, he took out the others so it would just be Harry and him—he was going to go and die but-,"

"But you failed. And nearly got your master killed by allowing a powerful PSI user go." Selvis coldly interrupted, his eyes narrowing as he shook his head, "What a _wonderful_ servant you must be. Nearly killing your master in the process."

They jerked back as Barty Jr. lunged forward in a drunken stupor, his hair returned to a faded strawberry blonde Harry had seen in the trail and his body shrank a bit with several loud pops.

"I wasn't going to fail! I just—He wasn't—that _thing!"_ Barty Jr. rambled on as the fog hardened to murderous anger as he spun to Dumbledore, "You! Why would you let an enemy of our world into Hogwarts?! Did you plan this?! Did you intend for that _thing_ to become one of us!? Has the Ministry taught you nothing?!"

Harry glanced at Dumbledore who coolly looked the clearly insane man down, the twinkle which had been dimming as the explanations had gone on completely gone, "I did what I thought was right." Dumbledore firmly stated, calmly pulling his wand out as Barty Jr made a mad lunge, forgetting that he was still tied down with rope as his disguise fell away completely, revealing a shell of a young man.

"Well Severus, it appears that we don't need that potion after all." Dumbledore murmured as Barty Jr dissolved into mad, intelligible screams of rage and terror as he thrashed around on the floor. It was only for a couple seconds before Dumbledore forced the man to sleep, but it was enough to leave an impact on the young minds watching.

"Fudge is on his way." Snape simple stated once the screams stopped bouncing around their heads, "And Ness's mother wishes to speak with you."

Dumbledore nodded and looked at Harry, who's mind was now spinning even faster than before. "Harry, could you, Mr. Karma, Ms. Lovegood and Ms. Weasley take Mad Eyed Moody to the Medical Wing?"

"Oh uh, of course-," Harry started when Selvis stepped forward, his eyes narrowing in suspicion, "Hold on, what did Barty Nutjob mean when he stated that the Ministry hadn't taught you anything. And why is he calling Ness a _thing_ for having a different range of magic?"

"Sounds like something happened in the past…" Luna mused, surprising Harry a little by how serious she appeared, the dreamy look in her eyes fading away as she focused on their headmaster.

"Is Ness not supposed to be here Dumbledore?" Ginny quietly questioned, her eyes burning with Gryffindor courage as she stepped forward, "Or is there something else you're not telling us?"

Had the world turned upside down or something?! Why were they _challenging_ their headmaster for answers! He was the good guy here, and why was everyone—or at least every Death Eater so scared of Ness? He was just like Dumbledore, right?

A small burst of protective rage burst through his clouded mind as he stepped forward to make the trio back off when a scream ripped through the halls. Prompting everyone to give each other a look that silently stated that they weren't done yet before they rushed out, Selvis and Luna gently carrying Professor Moody out of the room.

A bucket of ice water fell on Harry's head as the air drained out of the room. Slowly climbing up the stairs with eager movements was a Dementor, it's hooded face was slightly turned away from them, aiming for someone behind them as a handler yelled at it to stop pointing his wand at its back.

He spun around, his stomach dropping as he heard his mother's voice and saw Ness's mother looking sick with Tracey doing her best to stand in front of her with Ness's bat in her shaking hands. Her eyes burning with a fearful desire to protect her mother as the monster reached the landing and began to pick up speed. If it wasn't for the angry yells of, _"Expecto Patrum!"_ releasing a flock of ghostly white animals then it would have succeeded in its hunt.

"What is the meaning of this Minster?" Snape hissed as two men looped a mask and cuffs over the monster and began to move it into Mad Eye's office when Ginny shakily moved to block their way, sensing something was amiss.

"Ah, well." Fudge looked for a loss for words as the two muggles looked at him in horror and disbelief, "Minister?" Tracey echoed as motherly rage began to build behind the older woman's deep blue eyes.

"We heard that you caught the supposedly dead prisoner—Barty Crouch Jr.—and were performing the death row sentence before he could cause any more trouble."

"But he's a witness." Luna pointed out with a small frown, "One who _just_ confessed his ties to _Lord Voldemort."_ Fudge and the two handlers flinched as if someone had cracked whip, their reaction grew even worse when Ginny boldly stated, "Who Harry and Ness _saw_ come back to life!"

"My dear, they were in a stressful environment. and could have made the thing up." Fudge answered, "What we _do_ know is that we have an escaped convict who needs to be properly punished."

"What about his rights?" Tracey numbly whispered before she cleared her throat and tried again when she realized only Harry and Dumbledore had heard her the first time. Fudge blanched a bit probably just realizing that there were still two muggles in the hallway and hastened to explain without revealing too much.

"My dear, the man in that room is a known Death Eater who has killed many in his career before escaping and creating more trouble here at Hogwarts."

"Yea. To bring Voldemort back." Harry loudly interrupted, not liking where Fudge was going with this. Surely, he wasn't going to try and cover up Voldemort's return when he had a comatose boy and a witness to the entire thing. Right?

"Potter, you need rest, you aren't in the right state of mind." Fudge replied his tone a little dismissive as Tracey spoke up again, "Yea so? He's in a new situation, shouldn't that mean he gets a new trial? New prison?"

"He should," Luna prompted, "He's clearly violated several laws and needs to be testified to figure out the extent of the damage." Selvis nodded in eager agreement and sadistically stated, "After all, our only witnesses _clearly_ need some rest before they can tell their side of the story. And I fear that it is far too stressful for us to rehash our story at the moment."

Fudge shot Selvis a glare and opened his mouth to retort when Ness's mother spoke up, "He gets to testify." Harry spun to face her like everyone else as the woman folded her arms, her nails digging into her skin.

"I want to know _exactly_ what happened to my baby boy to put him in such a state." She firmly declared, "And clearly that man you were so nicely trying to _kill_ holds all the answers."

"And is currently knocked out." Ginny unhelpfully added as Fudge looked at the woman in bewilderment, "Madam, I understand it is stressful and downright terrifying to learn that your son is gravely injured, but from what we can gather he was _helping_ this madman and-,"

"So, you're going to kill Ness as well?!"

They looked back at Fudge, horror dawning on the children's faces as they moved onto the Dementor who was struggling to take advantage of all the rampant emotions in the hallway.

Fudge opened his mouth, thought better of it and tried again, "No, merely question him about his involvement! The Dementor is here just for Mr. Crouch Jr.-,"

"Which tried to _kill us!"_ Ness's mother spat, "I don't know what kind of madness you _wizards_ run in this castle but outright harming the innocent is disgusting!"

"It was an honest mistake madam," one of the handlers answered, sounding truly upset, "We didn't realize that the dementor's presence would have a strong effect on you to or that there was such a large group at the time."

If eyes could produce lasers than Fudge would be a pile of ash as Ness's Mother glared him down with Tracey tapping her brother's blood-stained bat on the ground, "I _want_ to hear this man's story and I expect to read about it in the newspapers _Minister."_

Fudge recoiled a bit at the venom in the older woman's voice but managed a mute nod of agreement, "I also expect to read about this _Voldemort_ person in the papers as well."

"R-right, of course." He stammered, managing a weak tip of his hat as she coldly declared that she was going to go visit her son and marched in the direction of the Hospital Wing with Luna and Selvis trailing behind her to drop off Moody. Tracey stuck around for a bit, clearly not trusting Fudge as she warily eyed the Dementor who was still struggling as the handlers yanked it away from its feast.

"Well then…this has been a busy evening. One that is sadly not over yet" Dumbledore managed, his eyes somehow still bright despite the heavy tension in the air and the tangible bone numbing desire for sleep. A haven to properly process everything and make sense of it in the morning.

Harry still had so many questions, questions that angrily swirled around Ness, the wizard who a wizard was not and his ability to survive a killing curse. Just like he had. Something that wasn't physically possible given his title and fame from doing absolutely nothing when he first started Hogwarts.

He jumped as Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze that soothed the screaming questions for a moment, "Your questions will soon be answered Harry, just wait a little longer."

He wanted to protest, maybe even use the frustration boiling within him to lash out a bit but stopped when he saw the haze of weariness that had been hidden behind Dumbledore's bright gaze.

It appears that Ness was weighing heavily on their Headmaster's mind as well. How worrisome…

* * *

 **March is cursed. I'm quiet sure of it since everything blew up that month. I also blame my little sister for taunting fate by noting how spring like the February weather was. (Feel free to blame me for April's brief snowfall since I was supposed to practice driving again. I don't like driving.) Anyway, hopefully everyone's safe, warm and not being killed the weather's mood swings. I think it's been giving my mom and I some migraines since they've came out of the blue for no reason.**

 **CyberbeastFalzar: I used to like snow. Now I wish it could just move over to the North Pole after the snowstorm fiasco and weird weather mood swings and stay there until next winter. Hopefully you and your family have power and are safe. :)**

 **HelenTheMoon: Thank you! :D I was a bit worried about how PIH was doing since I've been bouncing around trying to figure out where to go next and make sure everything's connected. Plus, I'm convinced that just hoards all the good stories since I usually find mine by snooping around people's favorites list or checking out the latest updates. Also as to how Ness survived, RPG power :3 (sort of jk but not really.) Also did I really spell 'Series nature'? Or was that an ab lib. Please let it be an ab lid! I hate backtracking to edit stuff _;**

 **Naosj: Thanks for the review/recommenced statement! It gave me a bit of critical thinking to do since I have been trying to branch out from the main story line of Hogwarts but since I'm a bit tired of Harry Potter (It's. Freakin'. Everywhere!) and not very familiar with the Mother Series aside from reading wiki posts it's been tricky to do so. Although the idea of making Giygas just appear in the middle of London is hilarious and very tempting...**

 **Now if you excuse me, I need to die in bed for a bit since my migraine just came back. THANKS MOTHER NATURE/HUMAN INVOLVEMENT OF RUINING THE EARTH. Although listening to bouncy Mario and Luigi ost probably isn't helping either... :/**


	28. Chapter 28, The Feast of Answers

The End of Year Feast felt like a funeral. Students filled in, some quiet, others loud and excited but mostly subdued from the maze events. Harry felt sick as he realized his fellow champions were looking at him, then behind him, clearly searching for Ness for some reason before they focused on him.

Flur and Victor -who seemed completely out of it—were frustrated, Cedric was confused and searching for answers while Alexander and Adaliz were shooting their headmasters—well, Alexander was glowering at his headmaster's empty chair—glares, as if blaming them for something.

But what? They were still in the maze when they had been warped to the graveyard…right? He sat down at the Gryffindor table, taking note of how Ginny was missing along with Luna. They were probably with Ness and his family, comforting them. Selvis was at the Slytherin table which was speaking in muted tones and hushed whispers. None of them bothering to spare Harry a glance until the food was served.

He knew he should eat something. But his stomach was still churning from the shock wave rock music he had endured at the graveyard. Perhaps he should have used his free hour to rest instead of sort through his endless list of questions, but he doubted he could from the slowly returning migraine.

"Are you alright Harry?" it took him a moment to realize it was Hermione who spoke and even longer to face her. Was he alright? No. he was not. Hermione sensed this and gently backed off as Ron mumbled to himself, wondering where Ginny was before he shot Harry a look then focused on his ham, noticing the look Hermione was giving him.

Eons seemed to pass before Dumbledore stood up, a light but strained smile on his face as he clasped his hands together starting the end of year feast off with…something…Harry couldn't tell, his vision swam from a bit before it clicked that Dumbledore was basically saying, "If you're in danger, you can come to us. No matter what school or house you belong to."

He was probably saying that to-, "Voldemort is back." –ease the news of the Dark Lord's return. Gasps and ripples of shock exploded throughout the room, affecting everyone but the Slytherin's who were coolly staring Dumbledore down, waiting for more information.

"He has been revived with the help of a spy who has been posing as Professor Mad Eyed Moody and a fugitive you know as Peter Petigrew." Loud exclamations echoed into the air before Dumbledore silenced the room, "The final tournament was a trap, set for Harry and Ness, one that nearly killed Ness in the process after the boy was forced to play along to protect his family."

Dumbledore studied the room, the scared, white washed face of older students, the twisted look of horror on the middle students face and the frozen fear on the newly crowned Hogwarts students who had just finished their exciting year.

"Now, the Ministry isn't going to tell you that. No, instead they shall twist the bitter truth until it is too late. They nearly did that tonight, bringing a Dementor against my orders to silence Barty Crouch Jr. after realizing what was going on. It almost killed Ness's parents, two innocent muggles who merely wished to see pay their unconscious son and brother a visit."

"That's messed up." Ron breathed, shooting Harry a worried look as pieces of chocolate began to appear on their cleaned or half empty plates. Harry gratefully accepted it as Dumbledore went on. Being firm in that they should stand together as Voldemort prepared his next move, that they should be careful in what they read and that they should follow their instincts instead of other's words' as darkness slowly descended upon them.

The feast ended with a sudden shift in mood as Dumbledore announced the points in a melancholy tone and stunned everyone by giving Ginny, Luna Lovegood and Selvis Karma 500 hundred points each for being vital in discovering that Mad Eyed Moody was a fake. The Slytherins all grinned to Selvis who was coldly regarding Dumbledore while the Ravenclaws gave themselves whiplash to look at Luna who didn't seem affected by her contribution.

Gryffindor still won however, thanks to Ness and Harry winning the cup but it felt like a hollow victory as Harry reminded himself that _Ness_ had done all the work. He had been spoon-fed every answer, probably by Barty Crouch Jr. to ensure his victory.

Morning arrived in a blur as light chatter started back up and Gryffindors gave Harry's 'Congratulations.' And 'Stay safe mate.' As they headed outside to enjoy a day of freedom in the warm June sun.

He stayed behind, sitting on his bed and mulling over questions, questions that only Dumbledore had the answer to. It was a relief when Professor McGonagall appeared in his room, unheard thanks to his bouncing thoughts and stated that Dumbledore was ready to see him in a neutral manner.

Harry couldn't help but carefully study her expression, wondering if she knew the truth about Ness as she stiffly lead him to the office. Small thoughtless mutters of annoyance and disbelief being eaten away by the castle's blanket of quiet.

It was always unnerving when the end of year came, the sounds of the living slowly pulling away as everyone prepared for break and enjoyed themselves. It had never bothered him before but…but that was before he found himself surrounded by terrified mental noise. Wondering if the Sphinx was right about Ness, if he had truly made a friend worse than Voldemort and if he had pulled himself into another mess that would be worse than his current one of being the Boy Who Lived.

"After you, Potter." Professor McGonagall said, gently pushing him forward with a small ghost of a sympathic smile before she turned around and headed down the long flight of stairs, her boots making soft 'thuds' that seemed to vibrate his very core as he stared the door down and braced himself for the truth.

The truth that seemed ten times bigger than him and on par with how his parents' truly died.

He wasn't braced for something dressed in dark clothing tackling him and pulling him into a giant, awkward hug. Yanking him into the room and allowing the door to slam shut with a loud bang.

"Who are-," Harry started when a gruff voice whispered, "Thank Merlin's beard that you're alive." Sirius tightened his grip on him before reluctantly letting go, leaving him utterly confused by his Godfather's sudden rush of affection.

Sure, they had been talking to one another using the fireplace, mostly for hints and basic 'how are yous' but he didn't feel it was enough to warrant such a parental action. Or that his tussle with Voldemort was enough to earn Sirius's ire as the man turned away and shot daggers at Dumbledore.

Who seem all but prepared for the hateful glares, "I had my doubts about the boy last year, but this just _proves_ they were right." Sirius hissed, his hands twitching as if he wanted to lash out and harm Dumbledore, "Why are you allowing a PSI student to come here. Did you learn nothing from Belinda? Wilson?!"

"It was a gamble, one that may have just worked out in our favor-," Dumbledore started when Sirius slammed his hands on the desk, "Right! So, having a PSI freak have a meltdown against the Dark Lord is working in _our_ favor! Now Voldemort's going to try twice as hard to get Harry!"

He was? Harry tried to move forward, ask a question but Dumbledore unknowingly cut him off, "Ness has had no problems until this year. Had Barty Jr. Not appeared then we wouldn't have a reason for this meltdown."

"But he _did_ appear." Sirius hissed, "And it's _because_ of Barty Jr. that we're going to have more _freaks_ coming over here. You're going to start a war Dumbledore!"

"H-hold on," Harry started, a little surprised that the one-sided argument quelled enough for him to get a word in as the grown men looked at him, Sirius angry and Dumbledore weary. "What's PSI? Why is so bad that Ness's magic is known as PSI?"

"Because Harry, Ness _doesn't_ use magic." Sirius stated, reeling in his anger when he gave his Godfather a baffled look. How could Ness not use magic? Only wizards were allowed into Hogwarts, right? Then again, Lupin was allowed in despite being turned into a werewolf…

"Or, at least not _our_ magic." Sirius corrected, struggling to put the answer into a neat little package as Dumbledore knit his hands together, "Tell me Harry, do you remember what the students were talking about when Ness first arrived?"

"Oh um…they said he was like the comic strip the Daily Prophet had." But that had quickly died down when Sirius had started his attempts to grab Wormtail.

"And he is. Or rather was. That entire comic series was real. Treated as an update for those who knew about the Wizarding War." A cloud moved over the sun casting shadows on Sirius and Dumbledore's face.

"Voldemort mentioned that—they invaded the war, and that the Ministry went so far as to blacklist books about it." But why?

"Yes, because that was how dangerous PSI users were, _are."_ Sirius stated glowering at Dumbledore who nodded as if silently agreeing with him.

"Harry, do you know how Wizards are naturally born with their magic?" he gave a small nod, "Well, PSI users weren't, at least not until what we estimate to be 1902. Where reports of American muggles were using an inhuman being to gain power." Harry gave a small laugh of disbelief as Dumbledore calmly finished with, "They had discovered an alien. And stole it's magic which we soon learned was PSI."

"Aliens sir?"

"Sadly, yes. In fact, in 1982 we believe the alien invaded America to take back its dormant power."

"Power that escalated all over the world." Sirius interjected, "Muggles and Wizards were being attacked by inanimate objects suddenly given life, new places of the world were being rediscovered with changes and new lifeforms, lifeforms that quickly migrated over into America when a group of kids came and completely overthrew the balance."

"How'd they do that?" Harry asked, a little unnerved to find the answer out.

"PSI." Dumbledore simply stated, "From what we can gather, it transform the mind into a weapon and releases waves of magic depending on what the user wishes. I believe Ness demonstrated that a couple times over the year."

A vivid memory of the loud rock music coming down in fast waves eagerly wormed its way forward, earning a grimace from Harry as he nodded.

"It's unblockable. At least for us wizards." Sirius stated, "To think, they don't ever need to say a word or perform a gesture. They can merely think it and it can happen. One moment you could be having a conversation then the next—you're writhing in pain for no reason. You're mind a muddled mess."

Dumbledore gave a solemn nod, "Indeed, it's a boon for PSI users. Especially with their limitless variations of power."

"Variations?"

"Before the American Wizards…disappeared, they recorded children and young adults with powers that were never the same. One could manipulate water, another could speak to animals, a third could lift objects with their minds—the list goes on and on."

 _"Why do you, a wizard allow an unknown to linger around him?"_

Unknown…Ness had an unknown amount of power, one that could never be matched by wizards or defeated. "So…Ness is dangerous." Harry concluded feeling sick as he remembered how laid back the boy was. The boy who could most likely best Dumbledore in a fight.

"If that's the case, then why is here? Why isn't he back home?"

"Yes Dumbledore, why _is_ that?" Sirius prompted the murderous anger reappearing. "Or did you conveniently forget the treaty created right after the war? The one _preventing_ PSI users into Europe?"

"I did not forget, I merely worked my way around it." A chill settled over Harry as Dumbledore bluntly finished with, "I predict in the coming future, that we shall need both types of magic to stop Voldemort."

Sirius stilled for a moment then gave a low guttural growl of frustration, taking a couple steps back and shooting Harry an imploring look, "D…do you really think that will work?" Harry questioned realizing Sirius wanted to speak out against Dumbledore. Normally he would be against this but… This was suicidal, "Voldemort and Ness had an agreement, Voldemort would leave Ness alone if he left him alone."

"True, but do you truly think Voldemort would allow Ness to live? For his family to be ignored?"

Yes. Dumbledore hadn't seen the pure fear and anger on Voldemort's face. He hadn't felt Ness's attacks. He hadn't _been_ there. But…Dumbledore had a point…

"N…not really." Harry admitted, a knot forming in his stomach as Dumbledore nodded and leaned back, slowly singling that this conversation was nearly over. "Now, it's growing late and I would hate for you to be pressed for time, do you have any other questions Harry?"

"Yes, how did Ness survive the killing curse?"

"…I'm afraid I do not know." Dumbledore admitted, "Remember Harry, variations."

Right…Variations. With a small sigh but relief that some of his more pressing questions had been answered Harry excused himself from the office, trying his best to ignore the anger burning in Sirius as he muttered something about joining Harry on the train after having a long talk with Dumbledore about something.

"So?" Ron asked, giving him a heart attack at his friend's sudden appearance, "How'd it go?" Hermione gave a small nod of agreement and studied his face, sensing that something was amiss, "Did he explain what happened to Ness?"

Harry opened his mouth, the information and fear eagerly waiting to be spilled when he stopped and looked around, "Yes…but I need to tell you this in private."

"Private?" Ron echoed the curious expression hardening into a serious frown of understanding. "Alright, the Common Room's empty right now."

* * *

The moment Harry was gone Sirius focused his burning glare on the headmaster, anger and disbelief roaring and wrestling deep inside his heart at the pure audacity Dumbledore had to omit the truth. The truth behind Ness's enrollment at Hogwarts.

"Really?" he managed after going through a long. LONG list of things to call Dumbledore, "That boy nearly _killed_ Harry! And you just skirt around the _real_ reason why he's here?!"

"It's to soon Sirius-," Dumbledore started, the perfect picture of calm. How could that man be so calm? When the key to stopping Voldemort, the _boy_ who had scrapped by year after year by sheer luck and dumb help had nearly _died?!_

"He. Deserves. To. Know!" Sirius grounded out, well aware that he was waking up the other paintings who would begin their annoying gossiping. "Just because Ness _wasn't_ thinking about doing it this time, just because—

He slammed his mouth shut with a frustrate snarl as Dumbledore coolly cut him off, "Ness is the second part of the puzzle Sirius. Unless you've forgotten the prophecy Madam Trelawny gave me."

"Yes, the foggy old coot's warnings to either be with Ness or _against_ him." Sirius recalled, the anger slowly cooling to dread, "The warnings about some mythical magical items tainted by…THAT magic."

"They shall come true, in due time. And we must be ready." Dumbledore stated with a tone of finality in his voice, ending the conversation. "Now, I believe we were due to talk about Harry's summer arrangements and the Phoenix's headquarters."

 _"Lupin. Give me strength."_ Sirius pleaded, resisting the animistic urge to tackle Dumbledore and shake the truth out of the man as he begrudgingly changed topics. Sensing that this would bite them squarely in the behind later in the future.

* * *

The empty castle seemed to loom in on them as the trio walked to the Medical Wing, hoping that Ness could answer their final questions. Ron was shaken, having remember some stories from his mother and father, Hermione was in disbelief and firmly believed that PSI wasn't a different type of magic and Harry merely wished to know if he could continue trusting Ness.

But it was clear that they weren't the only people with questions for Ness. Madam Pomfrey shot them one look then gave a groan of frustration before retreating into her office. Leaving them to deal with the small crowd of people hovering around Ness's bed where the boy was. Offering everyone a pained smile and blearily looking around the room with dull black eyes.

They landed on Harry for a moment, causing him to tense up in panic before they focused on Cedric who was asking something. "Never knew Ness had a fan-club." Ron murmured, looking ill at how many people liked Ness the _wizard._

"He did have a comic strip-," Hermione started when a girl shot her a look to shut up, so she could eavesdrop in peace. Harry followed the girl's gaze and stiffened as Cedric gave Ness a smile, one mixed with relief and gratitude as he finished his sentence with, "Thank you Ness."

Ness blinked then rubbed his eyes with a laugh, "Dude, I am _not_ the person you should be thanking. _I'm_ the guy who nearly gave you a concussion."

A few Hufflepuffs stiffened with anger then relaxed as Cedric swiftly rebuked, "True, but you _also_ chose to get the other champions out of the maze. If you hadn't done that then the monsters surely would have killed us. I'm in your debt."

"If you say so." Ness simply said before he turned his head to Selvis the Slytherin boy who was coolly eyeing them. "Is there a reason as to why I have a huge group of guests?"

"I didn't bring all of them!" Selvis protested, glancing at some Ravenclaws who were frowning at Ness before looking at Luna who was drinking some tea, as if trying to solve some puzzle. "Seems like it." Ness playfully retorted before one of the Ravenclaws spoke up, "How did you manage to get all the Champions into the classroom, Earthbound?"

"I teleported." Ness bluntly replied, unaware of the frustrated glares the Ravenclaws were giving him as he added, "I've said this like, five times now you guys. Take it or leave it."

"We'll get the answer. One day!" A Ravenclaw started to vow when his friends dragged him away, leaving the trio alone with some Slytherins, Ginny and Luna.

"Hey Harry!" he jumped but managed a casual wave back to Ness, "Came to ask some questions?" the boy glanced around the room before faltering for a bit, "Seems like everyone has one."

"Because you're a mystery Earthbound." Selvis drawled cringing as Ginny elbowed him, "Because you refused to explain what happened on your own, chicken."

"Am not!" the boy began when his housemate intercepted him by asking Ness a question, "So how did you guys know Moody was a fake?" the boy asked, his narrowed eyes wide with curiosity

"We pieced it together." Ness answered, "There were a lot of clues pointing to something going on with Barty Crouch's family. The fact that his 'dead' son was a Death Eater, that Winky was fired in a heartbeat but still cared about her master to the point of getting drunk and Barty getting 'sick' up until Barty Crouch Jr. murdered him."

"And the fact that Moody was attacked right before the school year started as well as showering Harry and Ness with praise while keeping a close eye on them."

"I'm surprised Snape didn't double your homework for getting on his good side." A third year mused, tapping a painted nail to her face as Ness laughed, "If he knew, then he would have done it."

"In a heartbeat." Ginny added earning snickers from the Slytherins.

"So, how did you guys know to show up and stop Junior?" another girl asked.

"Ness." They deadpanned shooting him a pointed look as Ness, "Hey! I'm the one who paid the price for being sneaky!" he protested folding his arms in light protest as Luna explained, "Ness normally doesn't isolate himself, or seem guilty about something. So, we figured Barty Junior caught him in the office and waited for a chance to strike."

"It's a miracle that news reporter got there first." Selvis noted with a small frown, "Junior probably would have murdered Harry the moment he stepped into the office."

 _"He would have"_ Harry realized, ice shooting up his back as he saw himself, dead on the ground with his eyes frozen in panic and surprise. He truly was lucky that Ness had such observant friends, or it would be a different story all together.

The Slytherins asked more questions like, "What was the teleportation spell you used?"

 _"Teleport."_

"What on earth possessed you to use a bat?"

 _"Baseball bats save lives."_ Ness stated with an air of finality.

"Is your mother okay?" that threw Harry for a loop at the genuine concern in the girl's eyes. Ness nodded and gave her a small smile for asking, "She's in-between strangling the Minister for allowing such a dangerous tournament to happen and just plain out strangling him for trying to murder a man without giving him trail. Tracy's trying to figure out how to sue him."

"So, Americans DO like to sue!" someone yelled earning cheerful laughter as Ness playfully tried to defend his nation then gave up with a huff of, "Okay fine! But it's not all fault repairs are impossible to get on the cheap!"

"Sure, sure." Someone called as the Slytherins' minus Selvis left, each one making sure to send Harry an icy look before looking at Ness and thinking better about it. As if deciding that picking a fight at the moment would be too much energy and disrespectful to the boy.

"So, what did you guys need?" Ness asked, shaking them out of their stupor of seeing Slytherins having a fairly straightforward conversation with other members from other houses.

"Just an answer." Harry replied glancing at Selvis then Luna who folded their arms and shot him a serious look. Making it clear they weren't going to step out of the room.

"It's sort of a personal question." Hermione gently added when she sensed the tension in the room.

"And?" Selvis prodded with a small sneer, "Is it so personal that you have to ask a sick person?"

"I prefer the term half dead." Ness deadpanned, earning a small shiver from Harry who had _seen_ him dead for a couple moments.

"It's important enough-," Ron started when Ness wearily cut him off the light tone in his voice completely gone, "You're wondering how I'm still alive after tanking a death spell. Right Harry?"

A faint chill entered the room as Hermione and Ron gasped in shock. "Yes." Harry played with his sleeve as he stepped closer, Ness's unsettling, almost grey eyes never leaving him as the memories came back. "N…no one's able to survive that," Harry added, cringing as he remembered that he himself had evaded death as a mere baby, "Not without a lot of luck."

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing that I have a lot of Psychic power."

His eyes flickered to Ginny and the others, panic slowly spiraling up when Ness bluntly added, "They know. They've known from the very start. Before we discovered PSI was outlawed."

"And pretty much banned from practice." Ron quietly added, glancing at Ginny with some worried anger in his eyes. "Ness is fine." Ginny coolly replied returning the glance with some fire.

"Look," Ness interjected ending the siblings' brief stare down, "From what we've gathered so far, PSI and magic are similar but also extremely different. PSI is more nature related and deal with doing chunks of damage at a time then using one thing to end it all."

"Which explains you living how…?" Ron questioned, looking a bit frustrated.

"Because, that means that PSI users and wizards have a different reaction to their attacks and defenses." Ness deadpanned a rare hint of aggravation in his voice. "Wizards have been hard wired to take an attack and use another spell to counter the first one. If they don't and or can't then they do what the first spell tells them to. PSI users are hardwired to have a 50/50 chance of evading or taking less damage depending on their mental state or 'stats'. Sure, it doesn't help out too much with magic but since it's trying to force us to stop we can just evade it with a different attack since we aren't hardwired to drop everything and become submissive."

"So, you mentally fought against the death curse using your 'stats'?" Hermione folded her arms and pursed her lips, clearly unsatisfied with this answer. Ness shot her a withering look then forced himself to calm down.

"Sort of. When I take damage my health drains down like a timer, giving me time to recover and heal myself fairly quickly without needing to pause." He paused to take a shuddering breath and quickly stated, "During the maze I boosted my resistance to PSI attacks just in case Voldemort did anything. The spell shattered the shields but gave me a fair amount of health to recover with, so I spammed Lifeup Omega to heal myself while the curse tried to counteract it. I drained myself to barely any power to remove the status effect before I mentally collapsed."

"I find it a miracle that you're even functioning at this rate." Selvis muttered looking a little nervous as Ness glanced at him, "From what Harry told us, you sort of went mad and spammed some sort of earthquake attack."

"Rockin." Ness guessed with a grim frown, "It's my only offensive PSI attack. I guess my emotions got the better of me and pushed me to fight back."

"I guess." Harry echoed as Ness gave a hollow laugh, a pained look settling on his face, "Well, I guess that's why I have -209 Physic points."

"Negative-," Selvis spluttered while Luna shakily mused, "That doesn't sound…right."

"Or safe." Ginny added, looking a little sick as Ness tried to assure them that he would be fine with some rest and sugary foods. "You need a hospital! You are _not_ fine!" Selvis and Ginny exclaimed earning a shaky laugh as Ness tried to deny that only to get hit with a pillow.

"Unbelievable." Harry breathed taking his leave with Hermione and Ron. A bit relived to feel the air warming up as they moved outside, trying to get some fresh air to sort Ness's explanation.

"So…he's like one of those 'video game' characters." Ron finally deduced breaking the tense silence between the trio. Harry nodded and pushed past the lump growing in his throat, "Looks like it…"

"That's just not… possible." Hermione stated, tapping her foot as thoughts spun in her mind, trying to form a reasonable answer to Ness's true status and powers, "You can't just cheat death by spamming a shield and healing spell!"

"He did." Ron and Harry replied, flinching as Hermione gave a soft growl of frustration at their flimsy answer.

"Besides, you heard him. His… _kind_ are hardwired to deal chunks of damage and have 50/50 chances and build up their defenses. We…we aren't." Harry reminded her, feeling sick at the thought of Ness being something completely different than being a wizard, "That's probably how he was able to appear in front of Snape's office when I got in trouble. Or how he can fight without a wand or-,"

"We get it." Ron flatly interrupted, "But that doesn't put a lot in our favor, now does it?"

Hermione shook her head no, "It puts it out of our favor. Alien powers…untraceable skills…No wonder other wizards are so uneasy to mention them."

Harry mutely nodded in agreement and knit his hands together, trying to push the memory out of his mind, the memory haunting him about Ness's emotional reaction to it all and bluntly warning him that Ness was different. And dangerous.

"Dumbledore better know what he's doing." Ron muttered, looking up to see some First years observing the Whomping Willow, "Ness doesn't belong here, and it's only a matter of time before the others figure it out."

"He doesn't know what he's doing." They jumped as Professor Kale joined them on the hill, his expression impassive and his eyes hidden behind his glasses, "He's acting on a wrong assumption."

"Professor what do you mean-," Harry faltered and felt his heart jump at the memory of the man's warning "Hold on, how did you know that Ness would snap?"

"The stars told me." Professor Kale casually stated, not bothering to face Harry as he studied the sky, "They tell me a lot of things. Things like…beware of the forgotten objects hidden in the dumpster."

"What?" Hermione questioned growing aggravated at all the twist and turns the day had taken. Facing another 'seer' wasn't helping her mood. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I've…I've never seen such an enemy before." Professor Kale stated, turning slightly with a small worried frown, "What I do know, is that next year, Hogwarts _won't_ be the safest place for students. And that Ness has started a chain reaction."

"A…chain reaction professor?" Ron questioned as Professor Kale abruptly stood up.

"That's all the stars told me," he stated before he left, walking down to the first years who were trying to throw rocks at the giant tree.

"He's mad-," Hermione started, smoke almost pouring out of her ears when Harry cut her off, "He's probably right though."

"What?! How can you-,"

"He predicted Ness snapping, Hermione," he looked at her, struggling to breath as the air thinned around them, "He saw it and warned me—told me to hit the ground when the one bound by earth snaps."

"Earth…bound." Ron muttered looking a little faint as Hermione pursed her lips and shook her head. But unable to disagree to his claim. "He's probably wrong." Hermione mumbled as lunch rolled around and prompted the students to head indoors.

"Let's hope so." Harry replied his eyes flickering to Dumbledore who seemed a bit burned out as he watched the students nervously but happily talking to one another.

* * *

 **Dun-dun-duuuunnn!**

 **Explanations are here! With more trouble looming on the horizon ahead for our heroes as the authoress actually _reads_ the wiki page for Earthbound's story instead of skimming it for PSI attacks and stats! Ah well, at least this is teaching me to actually plan out what I want happen in the future...and to be more careful when I'm reading for information that isn't school related...although I don't read those as carefully as I should either..._ **

**Thanks HelenTheMoon for pointing out a small word mix up I had in the last chapter!**


	29. Chapter 29 Summer of Meetings

The world around him shuddered as something powerful slammed into him, rattling his very bones and soul as the something floated overhead, a sickening toxic green aura around a bone white skull with a chilling scowl, frustrated that its target was still in the land of the living.

 _"Not like this, notlikethis-,"_

The skull charged again with a silent scream that would have frozen his blood if it had sound, slamming through the last thin piece of glass shielding him from the monster with a sicken crunch before it flew back, allowing the world or rather, shadows of it to still and breath before trying again. And again.

 **Slam!**

 _"Omega Lifeup!"_

 **Slam!**

 _"Omega Lifeup!"_

 **Slam!**

The world tilted on its axle as his stamina and PSI points drained out, hitting zero then plummeting into negatives. Was he falling? Was he standing? Was he breathing? He couldn't tell, all he felt was pain. Pain. **Pain**. And inhuman rage that wanted to make others pay, to make others feel his pain.

 **To be equal again in this magical world of** ** _pain_** **.**

"Ness." The darkness abruptly disappeared as air rushed into his lungs, his body registering someone holding his hand, his hand that felt cold and sweaty.

"Repeat after me, you're safe." The voice ordered, soft and calm as Ness mumbled the words, hating how scratchy his throat felt and how croaky the words sounded as he moved up to normal speaking volume.

"Better?"

"Y-yea." He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he faced Maria Anta, his therapist for the summer. "How long was I out?"

"Only five minutes, I just finished up speaking to your mom." Maria informed him, gently pushing a plate of homemade cookies toward him, "Same dream?"

"Same memory." Ness corrected, his stomach dropping at the vivid images he had seen as he nearly—no, he's okay now, he's alive and still kicking.

A sharp stab in his head quickly corrected his thoughts as he shoved the chocolate chip cookie into his mouth, hating how easily the sugar dulled the stabbing sensation behind his eyes. This entire summer had been spent talking to Maria about his nightmares and possible PSTD given how he couldn't look at skulls or the color green anymore, not without his head hurting and the instinct to fight rising up.

Also, replenishing his PSI points which were still in the negatives despite having an array of sugary sweets and fruits added to his diet to curb the physical pains his battle against Voldemort had left. Being blasted in the chest hurt almost as much as nearly dy—

"So, you're heading back to school soon, correct?" Maria pressed, distracting him from his never-ending thoughts.

"Yea, at the end of August." Which meant more suffering and pain for him. Whoopee. "Do they have a school guidance counselor you can talk to?"

"…I don't think so."

A shadow of anger flickered on Maria's face before she caught herself and moved on, "I see, have you been practicing your breathing exercises and meditation?"

"Yes, Tracey and King do their best to remind me." Although King's form of reminding him meant carrying around the radio with a pleading look on his face since Ness didn't _dare_ use his passive PSI powers, not yet.

"Good, it won't be enough but…It should help curb your fears and make it a bit easier to adjust to everything."

A dry snort slipped through his lips, "Right, adjusting the magical world of mayhem where people don't bat an eye at underage kids fighting for their lives." Maria flinched, and guilt quickly settled in, _"Thanks headache. THANKS."_

"S-sorry just—," Maria nodded in understanding, "Just the pain talking, not you. I _do_ have a history working with troubled kids Ness."

"You sure?" Ness teased, earning a pillow to the face and a small laugh before they got down to business, talking about his newest fear. Wizards. At the very start Maria had made it clear that she was to know _everything_ about how he had gotten this bad and refused to acknowledge the dangers of wizards. "Wizards or no, I have a job to help people." She had said, ending the argument and forcing Ness to talk.

It had been a bumpy road since even though Ness _knew_ why he was afraid he couldn't bring himself to get over it, he wasn't scared of his friends, Harry, Hermione and Ron were a different story but…yea, Wizards—Adult Wizards to be precise scared him.

And angered him to no end at their forceful society. "I know that I'm not supposed to be there, but they keep _forcing_ me to go!" Ness exploded, cringing as he saw a faint outline of yellow reaching toward Maria before fading away, Rockin' Beta had slipped through his fingers. _Again._ "Mom tried her hardest to pull me out of it, but Dumbledore wouldn't listen or acknowledge it, stating that my outburst was the main reason _why_ I'm going."

"Even though _they_ caused the outburst?" Maria questioned, writing everything down in her spiral cat covered notebook.

"Yes!" he bit his lip and crashed into the back of his chair, feeling exhausted as his mind demanded to rest, which meant falling back asleep and facing the dreaded nightmares.

"Hogwarts is _full_ of horrible events that had happened over the years, and yet _no one_ seems to go 'Hey! Maybe we should pull our kids out in protest or yell at Dumbledore some more!' or something."

"Well, the Mystic Informer have been verbally chewing them apart." Maria offered with a small satisfied smile, "The concerned letters are still going strong."

"Are they?" he really hadn't been keeping up to date with the Mystic Informer, but Paula had. Probably enjoying the sweet justice of American rage directed at those stuffy wizards for a good cause.

 _"Hopefully it won't have America mind wiped once everything calms down."_ Ness thought as a small alarm rang, signaling the end of their session, "I'll see you this Friday, Ness." Maria stated walking him to the door with her kind smile, "Remember, write down every dream you have and work on your exercises."

"Or pay the price, I got it Maria." Ness replied, lightly rolling his eyes as his mother stood up to have a few words with Maria. Leaving him alone in the waiting room with the Gameboy obsessed receptionist who thought no one could see her playing Pokémon through the army of magazines.

He quickly found himself looking at Mystic Informer then having the magazine in his hands, a guilty smile on his face as he read the cover page which was talking about the politics of the Ministry.

It avoided wizard detection and had labeled them being in charge of the educational world in Europe and children's wellbeing and apparently, it had worked since Ness flipped to the middle of the book and blinked at the high-end discussions being traded back and forth between psychologists and worried parents. None seemingly connected to the wizarding world as they gave their opinions on the matter.

To avoid overwhelming his still fried brain, Ness skimmed it and summed it up in a single sentence, Hogwarts was unsuitable and a dangerous school for kids that may or may not be using drugs to lull the students into dangerous situations and reckless behavior.

It was…pretty solid even though they only had the tournament to go on. But Chip's pictures and his cousin's story had created a blazing fire, and the picture of the dragon Harry had fought and been injured by didn't help either, making it even worse in Americans eyes by claiming it was a machinal beast most likely used on movie or amusement park sets programed to 'fight' the kids.

…Yea, Hogwarts was screwed. But not enough to close the school down to do damage control. With a sigh and the dread of knowing he was going to head back into the toxic environment with a still damaged mind he leaned against the chair and allowed a foolish thought bleed into his wishes.

 _"I seriously wish Hogwarts would close down. Or at least expel me before anyone gets seriously hurt because of me."_

 _…As…you…wi…sh._

He jerked out of his stupor with a small yelp, wondering if he had heard the tiny voice or accidentally tapped into an animal's mind. There WAS a vet right next door, who's owner was very fond of squeaky rodents who all screamed for cheese or mice revolution whenever Ness popped his head in to say hello. Yea. The mice were weird but…were they that weird to grant a wish?

"…I hate Hogwarts." Ness groaned, figuring that whatever he had heard would show up there like all of his other troubles would.

* * *

In the office, it sounded like a beehive. People were chatting, answering phones, typing away at their computers, taking random pictures (Knock it off Chip.) and walking around in casual shoes or high heels. For her, it was simple cream flats slapping against the oddly hardwood floor as she hurried to the delivery she was very late to.

 _"Of all the days I had to oversleep, it had to be TODAY."_ The young intern lamented, shuffling the bundle of papers she was supposed to drop off before resuming her job as coffee girl/reigning in the flying pens and paper clips (They had a mind of their own thanks to a certain SOMEONE.)

"Okay, dress smooth, hair flat," she muttered, moving the papers around to fix her hair and dress before knocking on the door, or rather attempting to knock on the door since it opened and allowed her fist to tap against a leather trench coat.

"A-ah!" she jerked back and forced a smile at the clearly tried man with silver hair wearing a giant clock around his neck, the chain swinging back and forth as the clock made soft ticks. "Will Clockwork! It's a pleasure to actually see-," she blinked, and the papers were gone, the door was closed and there was no proof that she had been speaking to Mr. Clockwork.

"…Really?" she questioned, ignoring the laughs and yells of, "Pay up!" floating around the office as she went to resume her coffee girl duty, "Look on the bright side, he fixed your bow for you." Willa Pens offered as she fooled around with a complex looking computer mouse.

"Gee. Thanks." She deadpanned, before glancing at the closed door, "So…is it just the boss and the…others or?"

"They grabbed a retired informer for this meeting," Willa explained her mouse shuddering, reflecting her nervous grimace, "The one with the strings and scissors. Whatever is happening must be big."

"Of course, it's big." They looked up and studied the young man, or rather his floating hair and the various office supplies floating around his head, "Ness and Paula were brought over to a Wizards only territory and _barely_ made it out alive." A pen snapped, startling Willa a bit from the ferocity. The man quickly stopped the office items to put them at ease and offered a small grimace, "Sorry, my uncle was kidnapped and brought to New England for…reasons. My father never saw him again."

"Those kids will be okay." Willa soothed, "They saved the world after all."

"Right…" the conversation ended, and the trio resumed their work typing up another story of Mystic Informer that wasn't Hogwarts related for once.

None the wiser as the main meeting commenced with stony expressions. Indicating that it was a serious matter at hand and—

"Okay seriously! How can you work with so many _threads?!"_ A young man with short blonde hair looked up from a tangled maze of various colored threads, all wrapped around his arms, wrist and fingers.

"You get used to it." The man simply replied, easily untangling a pair of blue and green threads before he turned to the leader of the meeting, "I take it your predictions have been as gloomy as the situation Astra?"

Astra Kale gave a solemn nod, his eyes hidden behind his glasses as he glared down at a notebook full of predictions and dreams. "So many different outcomes have come to me in the middle of the night." The star seer mused, "And none of them are good."

"For the Boy Wonder or Ness?" Lily Adams asked, fiddling with a pen as she studied a folder filled to the brim with pictures and reports given to her by Chip.

"Both."

"So helpful." Will muttered, his eyes closed and his head leaning side to side, in rhythm with the soft ticks echoing around the room, "Dully noted William." Astra dryly replied before a woman with soft blue hair spoke up, "What are we going to do? Slandering them doesn't seem to work, and we can't be forceful…right?" she glanced at Astra who shook his head no.

"Not yet, Maybell. Not yet, although I do wish that Maria could help repair Ness's mind faster." Maybell tensed and caused a teddy bear to poke its head from her lap, its beady black eyes barely peering over the wooden table.

"What is he going to face?" the thread man asked, clasping his hands together and summoning a new collection of threads, one of which was a deep purple loosely knotted around a regal red.

"I…have no idea." Astra chew on his lip and flipped through his notebook, "They change, sometimes being random items of trash, other times their toys. The only thing they have in common is that there slow but…moving toward the same location."

"Which is…?" William pressed.

"Don't know, the stars yield very little to me. It's…disturbing since there are now so many theories and timelines to choose from. As if…something splintered it." They perked up, their eyes wide with surprise as Astra drummed the table nervously, "The only thing that has stayed consistent is with Harry, it's…unsettling how easily I can see into his future with only two branching paths."

"Makes sense, Harry's a _wizard."_ Maybell snapped her bear giving soft growls despite clearly being a toy, "You know how _they_ work."

William and Lily nodded in agreement, frowns appearing on their face as the man tangled in threads held his hands up for order, "Now, now. Remember the point of this meeting wasn't to worry about the nature of time." He clasped them and opened his eyes, revealing a kaleidoscope of lilacs and reds, "But to talk about how to disrupt the course Ness is on."

"You see his fate?" Astra asked then he blushed at the obvious answer.

"I see _their_ fates." The man corrected earning a soft growl from William, "What do you mean Fate? Who are _they?"_

"Harry and Ness. The two who were not supposed to meet." Fate clarified, pointing to the regal red and purple threads, "There threads have been tangled enough thanks to Ness having no clue what to do and falling back on the desire to help others. But if we allow any one of those boys to hear about that prophecy…"

"Game over." Lily guessed earning a frustrated growl from William, "Can't you just cut it? Get it over with before any other kids are dragged into this mess?"

Fate wearily shot his comrade a look and shook his head no, "Their fates will make or break the worlds we kept separate from one another, if I cut them…something even worse than wizards tampering with our abilities may happen."

"Like?" Maybell pressed.

"Like the _world_ tampering with our abilities since we no longer have a group on the same side."

The room fell silent as the PSI users exchanged looks, Fate merely closed his eyes in thought, thankful that America thus far hadn't really cared about the handful of PSI users appearing within their borders. After Giygas's attack it put the people at some ease to know that they had some way to fight back against living inanimate objects and people who had been a little too close to a Mani-Mani Statue.

Plus, the fact that PSI seemed to be around the world added a bonus of possible super soldiers who could defend their homeland if a war broke out.

Something that may happen if Europe, the only place in the world with seemingly no PSI users kept meddling with their forceful ways.

"Alright…we don't cut the threads." William relented, "But we _are_ fighting back."

"Yes, with undercover agents." Fate tilted his head to Astra who sighed and flipped through his book again, "Following Harry's future as far as I could, I see a ton of arguments and disagreements following Dumbledore's path, leaving him stubborn and fool headed from all the backlash his idol is getting. Soon, his role will get to his head and may do something crazy, something that would allow us to put our message out into the world."

"Yea don't mess with us or will beat the tar out of you." Lily added a small grin on her face as she scribbled something down, probably a to-do list to add more fire to the blazing fire.

"I see, William, when the time comes you'll lead the force into attack." William sighed and tapped his clock, "This is because I'm such a stickler for time, isn't it?"

Fate nodded.

"I despise you guys."

"Oh, get over it," Maybell huffed, "At least you aren't posing as a magical storekeeper."

"You're posing as a squib who sells Muggle toys to wizard kids." William deadpanned, "That's a lot better than giving myself a headache."

"You always get a headache." Lily pointed out, grinning as William grumbled, "Do not," then turned to Fate, "Is this meeting over? It's nearly 2 and I have a strict schedule to keep."

"It's over." Fate assured him, smiling as William muttered a grateful, "Right on time." And hurried out of the room to tend to his errands.

"Well, I suppose I better get ready to head back to work." Astra sighed, "So many wizards, so little time."

"Same, I can't keep the store closed all the time." Maybell stated, getting up and adjusting her puffy ribbon, "Ta-ta—Pickles."

Lily snickered at the New England phrase and stood up, "I'm off to rendezvous with Chip, something about the Ministry up in arms about something."

"Something being…?" Fate pressed as Astra gathered his things. "Something about Harry breaking a law in self-defense. I don't know, I just know Wizards are stuffy but are _great_ at making giant mistakes in the course of a couple hours! See ya boss!" Fate nodded and resumed fiddling with the threads, observing the names only visible to him as Astra bid his goodbye and left.

"How can so many people be connected to such enigmas of fate?" Fate mused, tracing a starry blue thread that had just wound itself around Ness's, frowning at how it went out the window and up into the sky.

"How odd…" Fate murmured, not liking this strange new thread as it splintered and spread outside. Connecting to new life with sickening deep blue threads. Very odd, new life didn't appear this quickly…

* * *

 **Barty Jr. Lives!**

 **Scandal at the Ministry!**

 **Parents fear for their children's safety after deadly mishap at Tri-Cup Tournament!**

 **Is the Minister losing his touch?**

 **Barty Crouch murdered by his own son under officials' noses!**

 **Was the attack at the World Cup Connected to the Tri-Wizard attack?**

 **Another dead man found walking. Is our Ministry losing its grip?**

 **Is our faith misplaced in our leader?**

The bold headlines tasted like sour milk as Cornelius Fudge took a long sip of his tea, grimacing at the cold, bland flavor it left in his mouth. Two years. That's all it took to pull the rug from under his feet with a simple jerk.

Mistakes he had never _dreamed_ happening appeared, verdicts were found false and now his head was on the line as _American_ papers joined forces with the Magical ones and nitpick at _everything_ he had worked so hard to build, to create.

The only consolation to these terrible events of not _just_ letting two dead men walk free and create havoc, but also endanger an exchange student's muggle family was that Hogwarts was right beside him on the frying pan.

"How." He muttered, pushing the newspapers away and looking at his workload full of letters to be written and stories to be blacklisted almost towering over his shoulder in an ominous fashion. "How in Merlin's beard did everything become so…wrong?"

He didn't even want to _think_ about Dumbledore's baloney story of Voldemort being real. Now, call him foolish for not listening to the strongest wizard in their entire community but would you _really_ believe a boy who had been painted as a delusion trouble maker and another boy who had come from America, land of the crazies fresh out of a coma?

Dumbledore was just the icing on the cake as he kept coming by, trying to persuade him to write the _truth_ while keeping his own lips sealed for his reasons why he accepted an American Wizard, one who was surely tainted by those blasted PSI users.

Why on earth would Dumbledore do that? Then again, the man seemed to be losing his touch, hiring wannabe killers, a possible phony and a werewolf.

He'd let Barty Crouch Jr. slid for slipping under Dumbledore's radar, that was sadly his own people's fault. But hiring _three_ bad wizards in a row? And only having the Werewolf come out on top as the only official Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?

Something was seriously wrong there.

But, those were problems for another day. He had a new problem to focus on. Cooling the flames of anger and fear before a new one showed up. Potter wasn't helping by his wild story of being attacked by a Dementor for some bizarre reason. Claiming it was because of You-Know-Who looming on the horizon.

But that was foolish, the man was dead. And _that_ was something _everyone_ was sure of, they had been through in their reports, pictures and testing to ensure that they were free from that mad man.

But something that was clearly stirring up trouble and brewing on the very edges of Hogwarts. Someone they didn't know lurking under this cover of chaos. But who? So many changes had been made, so many trusted co-workers and comrades buried under their work of the World Cup, Tri-Wizard tournament and now, Barty Crouch Jr.'s new trail. Unable to check it out for him while he fought with the bigger fish in the pond. No, _sea._

Surrounded by sharks who were out for his blood, his chair of command. A small shiver of disgust ran down his spine as he heard the faint gongs of the clocktower, singling that it was five o'clock.

The time of reckoning as his first meeting walked in through the door, Dolores Umbridge. The best of the best and his soon to be spy. She was a woman to be wary of, climbing through the ranks of the Ministry as if she was merely playing hopscotch instead of a deadly game of chess with pronounced skill and a tongue as sharp and smooth as sliver and steel.

"Umbridge." Cornelius greeted, resting his arms on the table and relaxing as the pink dressed woman gave her sweet smile and sat down, a picture of perfection.

"Minister." She returned, folding her hands neatly in her lap, "I believe I'm here for that position at Hogwarts?"

"Teacher of Defense Against Dark Arts to hopefully cull a bigger threat." Cornelius stated, torn between worrying about Dumbledore's possible army to usurp him (It was quite clear that they didn't like each other or how they used their power.) or of a certain exchange student who was shaking down his numbers of support faster than he could take a breather.

"Dumbledore's Army?"

"Possibly." Vague, she could come to her own conclusions and bury herself six feet under. He was going to do his best to keep this angel on _his_ stage and _his_ terms. "Hogwarts has been stirring up trouble and creating waves of backlash and fear these past two years. But we aren't sure _why_."

She gave one of her breathy laughs that sounded like someone choking on a toad, or perhaps trying to unclog it from their throat. He wasn't really sure, "So, undercover agent Minister?"

"Yes and no." he pushed a piece of paper forward, a possible bill to hopefully calm the worried parents.

Her eyes flickered over it, a dreadful toad like smile forming as she understood her new position of power, one that would soon engulf Hogwarts under his control and hopefully, stem the earthquakes of problems erupting from it.

"I see…" she leaned back and shot him a promising smile, "I'll do my best to carry out the tasks at hand."

"Good, you're dismissed." The moment Umbridge was gone Cornelius slumped, weary and feeling as if he had stumbled into something worse than a simple sea of endless questions. Perhaps…perhaps he had guided his boat into a blood-filled ocean, surrounded by hungry sharks with the power to rip him in half.

* * *

It was nice to see that he wasn't completely alone in his wariness. He'd been having a nagging feeling in the back of his head that he was the only one worrying about Harry's connection to Ness.

A swift and rare exclaim of, "He's coming back?!" from his usually tranquil friend, Remus Lupin eased his feelings as the werewolf wizard looked at Dumbledore in disbelief, "Dumbledore, I know Ness is a powerful asset and tied to more things than we understand but…" Remus weakly gestured toward the newspaper yelling a headline about Dumbledore going mad for announcing Voldemort's return, "What if he's _not_ ready to come back to Hogwarts? Actually, would he even _agree_ to joining us?"

"No." Sirius answered as Molly pressed her lips together, adding more and more pressure until they were nearly an egg white color of raw anger and worry.

"He might." Dumbledore answered, nursing a cup of tea, "After all. Voldemort sees him as a threat, it'll only be a matter of time before he goes after Ness's family."

"Right, like he would _dare_ risk going up against _more_ possible PSI users." Sirius grumbled, knowing for sure that he wouldn't do it.

"He already went after Harry." Dumbledore tried before Lupin shut him down, "Because he _knows_ he can reach Harry without the fear of losing his magic."

"Is he really?" Molly breathed, still digesting Dumbledore's first announcement after bringing Harry back to 12 Grimmauld Place.

"A PSI user? Yes." Sirius answered while Lupin solemnly nodded, "I experience it firsthand, he teleported myself and your daughter to the Shrieking Shack to defuse the possible murder."

Molly made a strangled sound, torn between a whimper and a snarl as Dumbledore calmly accepted her rightful anger at endangering her kids. "For now, we need to keep an even closer eye on Ness. It's becoming clear that Fudge doesn't believe in Voldemort and that a war shall soon be brewing."

 _"Why must you be right?"_ Sirius wondered, grimacing at the truth behind it. His grimace evolved into a bitter scowl as Dumbledore added, "Especially with _that_ item."

"Ah yes…" Lupin muttered, "The…"

"Blasted…" Molly started, purposely trailing off after she shot the door a look, being wary of possible noisy children.

"We'll have to warn him. Properly." Sirius announced a knot forming in his stomach, "He still has time to back out of this mess and leave everyone alone for good."

"But will he listen?" Lupin questioned, "He's in a difficult spot at the moment and…I very well doubt he trusts any of us anymore."

 _"And for the right reasons."_ Sirius thought, getting up to check on Harry. He couldn't sit here, he couldn't stomach this meeting. Not when it involved throwing his Godson into dangerous territory with an even more dangerous variable.

He could see _why_ Dumbledore was so keen on keeping Ness on their side, anyone would be a fool to turn the boy's powers and title away. But he couldn't understand _why_ the man wished to keep poking at something they didn't understand or could combat against.

 _"Maybe this is for the best."_ Sirius mused, feeling sick as he entered the hallway and headed up to Harry's room. He knew he wasn't very good at long term planning, not unless something valuable was on the line. He and James were brash and people who enjoyed going with the flow instead of trying to change it by force.

So…perhaps he was being short-sighted by trying to protect his friend's only son from the dangers America seemed to bring. Or, maybe he was right as he heard Harry say, "We should write to him, maybe meet up at Diagon Alley if possible."

 _"Please let the he be a completely different person."_ Sirius started as Hermione started to fuss, "Ness is dangerous Harry!" Sirius nearly slammed his head into the wall as the girl continued, "We shouldn't be trying to write him up for a jolly chat!"

"But we can't just ignore him! What if that makes it…worse?"

"…Maybe we can convince someone to take us to Ness's house, put us in his environment?"

Of course, Ginny would suggest that. Of course, she would!

"I'm a bit worried about him…he hasn't written back to Luna or I."

"What about that Selvis kid?" Sirius frowned at the bitter edge in Ron's voice. Why was he acting like Ginny had betrayed them somehow?

"No. And it's Selvis _Karma,_ Ron." And why was Ginny sounding like Molly? Ready to dish out some punishment to a very annoying George and or Fred? Actually, she was ready to punish both of them since they always had their hands deep inside the cookie jar.

"This is a bad idea." Hermione muttered.

"Maybe. But you said it yourself, we need to know _why_ he's _really_ here." Harry countered, ending the argument and moving onto plans, ways to trick the adults into getting them close enough to Ness.

 _"God. Why do you hate me?"_ Sirius wondered, deciding to step back and let Harry handle this, the boy had been through four years of torture thanks to Voldemort. He was old enough to make his own choices now. Even if they seemed like terrible ideas. So, he headed to bed, his lips tightly sealed to protect his Godson from Molly's wrath.

* * *

 **Tensions are high and I'm just realizing that I might be writing meta by messing up the law force of the wizarding world and starting an American protest! (I just realized how realistic this now is thanks 2017 and the onslaught of protests.) Good lord I'm dangerous when I have a theory and a bunch of questions about something.**

 **Also thank you BaronLily for the review! :D It sort of reminded me to update since I was scrambling to finish late assignments from school. Also it's only going to be Earthbound since surprisingly the Harry Potter timeline almost completely matches up with the Earthbound timeline if you follow the theory that Ness is Ninten's grandson. Plus, I like to see Mother 3 happening in the far future or at least in a drastically different location since it seems that attacking objects,wild monsters and PSI users are the norm than it was in Earthbound and Ninten's game.**


	30. Chapter 30, Everything is Fine

King's Cross Station was busy as always, filled with tense and excited energy as young wizards and muggles hurried to catch their trains.

"See him yet?" Ron whispered, standing on his tippy toes and peering over heads as Harry shook off the knot in his stomach about needing a guard to walk to the train station.

"No, he's supposed to have his own guard. Right?" Ginny questioned as Mrs. Weasley ushered them into 71/2 platform with the help of Tonks.

"Maybe." Harry replied, looking around the platform for Ness's trademark baseball cap, "But I seriously doubt that."

"Maybe he's on a late plane?" Ginny offered as they slowly moved for the train, ignoring the hushed whispers and points aimed at Harry as they searched.

"Why would he take an aeroplane?" Ron questioned earning a deadpan stare from Ginny, "He lives in _America._ Remember?"

"That place has always been bad news." Hermione muttered as Mrs. Weasley's fussing grew and Sirius leaned against Harry's leg, silently comforting him with his giant green eyes as he thumped his tail.

But Ness never showed, forcing the group to climb aboard the train after good byes and hugs while Sirius attempted to smuggle himself onboard. Earning Mrs. Weasley's ire as Ginny giggled at the event.

"He looks like an actual dog!" she giggled pointing as Sirius huffed and looked away, his ears low in defeat as the train lurched forward and began its journey to Hogwarts.

"You don't think Ness is skipping the train, do you?" Ron asked as Ginny went to find her friends.

"Absolutely not!" Hermione insisted, "That would cause even more trouble than what its' worth!"

"Would it?" Harry wondered, remembering the unease that followed Ness's name in a conversation. He was a dangerous variable who was still deciding on if he was with them, or against them.

And their lack of communication with the boy was worrisome. Maybe it was for the best that he didn't attend Hogwarts, even if Dumbledore was adamant about having him attend.

"Well, let's focus on finding a car, we can see Ness during dinner." Harry said, restraining himself from adding, "If he decided to keep attending." As Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement.

Of course, finding an empty car was easier said than done since _everyone_ had taken advantage of being early and not searching for a friend, forcing them to go with Ginny in hopes of sitting with her and not a random stranger waiting to weasel out the truth about what had happened at the hearing.

Of course, that meant sitting with Selvis Karma, who glanced at them over his book and rolled his eyes, "Great. You summoned the _new_ corrupt cops." He snarked, glaring at Luna Lovegood who was reading a magazine upside down.

"Summoning bugs must be out." The girl hummed, earning a perplexed expression from Hermione who moved to correct her when Ginny shut her down with a look. "Couldn't find a better car to sit in?" Selvis questioned, "Decided to sit with the lowly traitors—ow! Weasley!"

Ginny ignored him as the boy went on, fussing about his bruised pride and ego as Luna just giggled at his antics. "No sign of Ness?" Harry asked, a pit of a worry starting to form as he sat down beside Luna.

"Selvis claimed to have seen him." Ginny glanced at Selvis who bluntly said, "I'm protecting you all by not informing you where he is."

Harry stiffened a little, the image that had been haunting him over the summer of the world shaking and boiling with rage appearing in his mind's eye. Maybe…maybe it _was_ a bad thing that Ness was here.

"Is he alright?" He found himself asking, scowling when Selvis shrugged his shoulders, "No clue."

"Apparently, Ness gave him the cold shoulder." Luna explained, "Guess he's in a bad mood."

"Is that even possible?" Ron asked, "Every time I've seen him he's been in a good mood."

Huh, so he had been. The boy had been sporting a casual smile whenever Harry had spotted him in-between classes and meals. As if he was gliding through school until the very end where— he cringed and shook his head.

He wouldn't go there, not yet. With a small, hopefully unnoticeable deep breath he looked up and found everyone intently listening for something.

But what? What were they—wait, what was that sound of small explosions and someone yelling 'Fireball'? with renewed vigor. Harry glanced down, blinking in surprise at a simple red blanket he hadn't even noticed covering the bottom of the seat.

They exchanged looks before Luna got on her hands and knees and lifted up the blanket. "Oh, there you are Ness."

A soft, "So much for my nap." Floated up to them as Luna stepped back and allowed Ness to roll out from the bottom of the car, a blank expression on his face as he studied the ceiling.

"In my defense, I didn't tell them." Selvis stated as the shock slowly wore off. Ness gave a small hum of agreement and sat up, stretching out his legs before he resumed playing a game on his sticker covered Gameboy.

"Uh…Ness?"

"What." They recoiled slightly at the blunt reply and the sight of Ness's eyes. The normally unnerving but warm coal black eyes were dulled into a pale shade teetering on being a solid black or a cold grey with barely any life in them. It greatly contrasted his bright rainbow hoodie which was filling in for his hat.

Harry forced himself to go on as Ness's eye bore into his soul, "Why were you hiding under the bench?"

"Trying to take a nap before my timely demise." The deadpan didn't help the startled atmosphere as Ness cringed and held up a cheery sign that read, "Sorry."

"Apparently, I'm more sensitive to magic than before—I'm already getting a headache from being around guys." He held up the sign again before trying to change the subject, "So, what have you guys been doing over the summer?"

It was unsettling to see Ness force a smile but his friends went with it, Luna talking about a hunt through the woods to hunt down Bigfoot, entering a 'heated' argument with Hermione about Bigfoot being real or not while Selvis simply said he had been helping his parents out at work. Refusing to say what they did when Ron asked.

"He's Aladdin." Ness supplied, smirking at his joke as Selvis looked at him and shot him a glare for good measure, "I have no idea who this 'Aladdin' person is but I assure you, I hate him."

"You hate almost everyone." Ness pointed out.

"And?"

"I spent my summer helping mom clean out Grimmuld Place." Ginny explained, earning a sharp look from Ron that changed to shock as Selvis chirped, "Oh right, _Snuffles_ place."

"You-," Ron started when Luna cut him off with a hum, "Ginny keeps us in the know about Dumbledore's actions."

"Is he doing anything dumb yet?" Ness asked, "Besides, ya know, being burned alive by the media?"

"What?!"

Ness shot him an almost bored look and remarked, "Mystic Informer has been having a field day about Hogwarts." A small genuine grin appeared, "It's awesome!"

Harry looked at him in shock then at Selvis who laughed, "I know right? I'm loving the letter from Overprotective Soccer Mom!"

"That was a bit much though." Ginny admitted while Luna mused, "The revolution begins now."

"Mystic Informer?" Harry repeated, feeling the knot of worry morph into one of cold anger at the familiar name. He could slightly understand the distrust toward Dumbledore, but not everything was his fault! It had merely spiraled out of control!

"You remember that reporter, Chip?" Ness asked, "He works for the Mystic Informer which is some American Wizarding paper."

Luna hummed in agreement as Selvis pulled a copy out from his bag, "They've been milking _everything_ from the Fiasco known as the Tri-Wizard Tournament and picking apart Hogwarts _and_ the Ministry!"

Ron stiffened a little as Ginny gave a small nod of agreement, "I like their cuddle writer, Maybell Stuffings, she writes goofy little stories and tries to make sense of the 'grown up' world with her teddy bear, Honey."

"I wonder if she knows about the American Wind fairies." Luna mused as Selvis shot her a look and opened his magazine, "Here's my favorite story so far—Our staff is a bit worried for those attending Hogwarts, outrages theories aside as our reporter reports never seeing and or hearing about a student consoler after a brief interview with Dumbledore over the summer. It's vague at best and most likely wrong given the man's colorful wording to give his school and air of mystery but Chip Adams reports-, _"When asked about student mental health and how Dumbledore would be helping the families of Earthbound and Potter—the most effected in this whole fiasco during the school year he promises that his teaching staff shall do the best they can to help them. When asked about having a teacher dedicated solely to mental health he replied that would be looked into this following year."—_

"Meaning that students over the course of each new generation which has been plagued with terrorist attacks and infestations within the castle have been relying on therapists and friends outside of the school to stay mentally healthy. This doesn't bode well for Dumbledore who I personally believe needs to get ready to either step down as Headmaster or reevaluate his school procedures and staff."

Selvis finished with a grin as Ness groaned, "Great, so I'll just be stuck relying on my book of happiness to get through this year." Earning a confused look from Hermione as Ron asked, "What's a school counselor?"

"The person you talk to about serious or personal issues." Harry explained, "A trained therapist for kids basically."

"Which our school _doesn't_ have for some _odd_ reason." Ness said, sarcasm dripping in his voice as he held up the sign.

"Do we need one?" Ron questioned, "I mean, we have friends and teachers to talk to if we need help."

"Yea, but will they keep it to themselves or drag others into the problem?" Ness countered, "Friends are great and all, but they can't beat a professional at work who can understand the entire problem."

"Sounds like you've been to one of those quacks." Selvis noted, flinching as Ness shot him a glare, "Yea, and that 'quack' has been very helpful limiting my nightmares and getting back on track." He snapped, grimacing and flashing the sign again.

Harry had the sinking feeling that Ness would be using that sign a lot given his growing frustration. It was almost abnormal. "Nightmares?" Hermione questioned, shooting him a scathing look, silently scolding him for withholding dreams over the years and not informing an adult.

Ness nodded and adjusted his hood, "Well Hermione, one doesn't walk away from nearly getting killed without a scratch." They flinched as Ness once again flashed the sign, "PTSD, it's mostly minor but it's still there. I'm officially unnerved by grown wizards and the color toxic green. It triggers some minor flashbacks."

Luna murmured an, "Oh dear." As Selvis and Ginny exchanged looks, trying to figure out what to say to that. Harry didn't have anything to say either, he had heard about people having PTSD, but he had never dealt with them, or their triggers. What does one say to a boy dealing with nightmares of how he _died?_

Thankfully, they didn't have to say anything since Ness threw them for a loop again, "Speaking of therapists, you should see someone Harry."

Huh?

"Me?" Harry questioned as the others looked at Ness in disbelief, "No, the _other_ kid with a lightning shape scar." Harry grimaced at the sign then at Ness's explanation, "We escaped from a bunch of cultists who killed me and tried to do the same to you. There is no way in heck that you are perfectly fine with this."

Hermione and Ron looked at him in surprise, realization then guilt as Harry replied, "I'm fine, just a little shook up-,"

A low drum beat started to play, cutting him off as a guitar followed, then another guitar deeper than the first. It stopped as quickly as it appeared, but it was enough to remind him of the graveyard, the vibrations— _Ness._

"Just a little shook up." Ness deadpanned, putting a boombox away with a frown, "Right. Perfectly A-Okay."

"What was that?" Selvis questioned as Luna mumbled, "Rock music?"

"100% rock. Which is what my most powerful attack is based off of." Ness shot him a look, "You are _not_ fine Harry. No one is."

"I beg to differ-," Selvis started to splutter when Ginny elbowed him and changed topics, "So who do you think the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher is? Someone competent?"

"Depends, Dumbledore's track recorder isn't the best." Selvis sneered, ignoring Harry's angry scowl as he leaned back in his seat, "Probably some renowned teacher given all the public backlash Dumbledore's been facing."

Luna perked up a bit happily 'exclaiming', "Maybe we'll be taught by Merlin's daughter, Morgan!"

"Absolutely not!" Hermione exclaimed, "Morgan is almost a carbon copy of Morgana!"

"Well at least we'll actually _learn_ something." Selvis retorted, "My father is going to have a conniption with how little I'm learning in Defense Against the Dark Arts!"

Ness shrugged and returned to his GBA, "Who cares? I just want to go home away from all this insanity." Disrupting the light mood once more with his blunt manner. Were all PSTD victims this bitter? He was going to have to look it up later, but for now he could focus on trying to talk down Hermione and her renewed efforts of S.P.E.W as she tried to get Luna, Selvis and Ness to join.

Selvis scowled at her and snapped, "I'm pretty sure that House Elves _like_ work Granger."

"How badly mistreated are they?" Luna questioned looking a little intrigued, Hermione was looking hopeful until Luna added, "Are they as badly treated as the Snuffle-Wuffleges? Those poor things are treated like puppets on that show Sesame Street!"

"Ness?" Hermione tried but Ness merely bit his lip, drawing blood and focused on his game, not trusting himself to give a kind answer.

"Face it Hermione. The elves are _happy_ this way." Ron said as Hermione threw her hands up in outrage and began squabbling with him. Everything was…mostly fine, until they had to get dressed for school. Ness shot his robe a murderous glare and did something to cause the car to vibrate before he caught himself and muttered, "Sorry." Before reluctantly pulling it on.

"Robes trigger you as well?" Selvis asked, looking torn between teasing him or just keeping his mouth shut.

"Anything black and a symbol of death triggers me." Ness grumbled, "I didn't bother looking at my robes this entire summer."

"Then how did you get new ones?" Ron asked, pulling his on and proudly pinning his on. "My sister bought them for me. I got books." Ness replied, "She measured me before hand, so we could get everything and leave."

Ron nodded as Hermione announced that she and Ron had a prefects meeting to attend, earning a gag from Selvis and a low hum of from Luna, who had returned to reading her magazine.

Harry wished them luck before realizing that this meant being left alone with Ness and his friends, one of which he wasn't prepared to trust as Selvis wrote something down in a tiny green notebook.

"So, any idea of what to focus on in our club meetings?" Ginny asked, pulling out a notebook of her own. "Ness being here is sort of answered thanks to You-Know-Who."

"Hooray for being a weapon." Ness deadpanned before he snapped, "Oh come on!" and closed his now dead Gameboy. "Oh, we're nearing the barrier." Luna mused as Ness grumbled, "Wizards! We can totally shatter your mind but we won't let you rot it with video games!" and slumped against the wall.

He had refused to sit next to anyone and had been propped up against the window for the ride. Something Harry couldn't understand as he entertained himself with called 'Puyo Puyo'.

"Can we _now_ focus on kicking Dumbledore out of the school?" Selvis asked, shocking Harry to his core as he exclaimed, "But he's the only one protecting us from Voldemort!" causing the light-hearted atmosphere to drop as Selvis looked at him in disbelief, "Oh sure. HE'S protecting us from You-Know-Who." The Slytherin remarked his eyes narrowing, "Just like how he protected us from his _followers_ and murder buddies while actively throwing you to the wolves!"

"He has done no such thing!" Harry snapped, recoiling as Ness spoke up, "Oh yea sure, so allowing his two _under age_ students to attend a dangerous tournament _wasn't_ throwing us to the wolves."

"And allowing a fraud who actively endangered us with his fake teachings is being completely supportive." Ginny added.

"Or allowing a vastly unstable student to attend a dangerous environment." Luna added, glancing at Ness who didn't seem fazed by the verbal jab. In fact, he seemed _happy_ that someone realized he was a danger.

Harry opened his mouth, but no words came out. The anger was there but unable to make up a remark at the valid points they all had and the small voice of doubt frantically pointing to Ness, the boy who had scared Voldemort into fleeing with his men after failing to kill him.

But they were wrong! Dumbledore was the greatest wizard of all of Europe! He wouldn't—he wasn't— Harry scowled and swallowed his anger, ignoring the angry prickling behind his eyes as he focused on his shoes. Refusing to look up.

He heard vague, "Oh dears." From the girls but Selvis was quiet, probably basking in his bloody victory as Ness changed subject, talking about some voice he had heard while wishing to be expelled or—

"You want Hogwarts to close down!?" his ears rang from the very statement as Ness looked up at him, his expression torn between looking frustrated but also neutral, "So far. I have yet to see Hogwarts good qualities."

If he hadn't been swimming in anger at Ness wanting to close down the _only_ good part of his life down he would have noticed the careful tone Ness had taken on, attempting to restrain his visible frustration.

"It's teaching us how to be wizards! Giving us a home away from home!" Harry retorted, "And now, it's acting as a shelter for whatever Voldemort has planned for us!"

Ness grit his teeth, "Maybe for you, but so far all I see is a _death_ trap!"

"A death trap?! No one's died at Hogwarts!"

Sorry Myrtle…

 _"OH._ I see, so I didn't _die_ last school year!"

"Well you're still standing!"

"Says the boy who defied fate!"

"Uh, guys?" Harry ignored Ginny and plowed on, "Maybe I was _meant_ to defy fate Mr. PSI User!"

"Well, have fun doing that in-between surviving that _Death trap_ of a castle! Pretty sure all the teachers just _want_ to see you die given this school's track record!"

"The only who wants me dead is Snape wanker!"

"Ya sure?! Since Trelawney was having a _blast_ predicting your death! Professor Kale told me so!"

"Boys."

"And that didn't happen, now did it!?"

"Hm. Maybe because I'M here saving your butt as you go off and fuss like a toddler! So far, you've done _nothing_ worthy of your title of being called the Boy who Lives since you seem to be DATING death!"

"I didn't _want_ to lose my parents!"

"GUYS!" Ginny snapped.

"FUNNY. Since I didn't want to come to this backwards world and watch my best friend _nearly die!_ Thanks to incompetent teachers!"

"The teachers aren't incompetent!"

"YA WANNA BET?! I have at least THREE names gunning for Worst Teacher ever!"

"How are we all not dead yet?" Selvis questioned as the lights flickered at a dangerous rhythm.

"Really?! Is Moody on that list? Since you were his _favorite_ student?"

"You wish! Since he _loved_ you to death as well! Probably couldn't wait for you to slip down the stairs so he could say 'oops! He dead!"

"Grammar Ness-," Selvis started when Ness shot him a murderous look, prompting the boy to hide behind Ginny for protection. There might have been a faint whine for help, but Harry couldn't really hear over the burning desire to shut Ness up…Which was pretty hard to given how witty the boy was with his words.

"Well at least I wasn't bribed into _murdering_ my friends and competition!" Ness's eyes took on an obsidian black as the lights started to die out completely, "You take that back. Right now." Ness hissed, his neon hoodie creating a horrific image in the dark.

"Then get out of my school." Harry snapped, "Since you seem to hate Hogwarts _so_ much, why not leave?"

"I've been _trying_ too but that old coot is having too much _fun_ torturing _kids_." Ness retorted, a dull haze of red appearing in his line of vision. "OH. MY BAD. I meant Dumbledork! King of being a major screw up and manipulative jerk who enjoys jerking others by the chai-,"

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT DUMBLEDORE LIKE THAT!"

"Harry!"

He was vaguely aware of someone grabbing his wand arm and the sound of a door flying open and—

" _Stupify!"_ He blinked or tried to and found himself pointing his wand at Ness, something in his hair and the train completely dark. "Ness. Out into the hallway." Someone ordered their voice soft but stern, "Count to twenty and wait for me."

There was heavy breathing before someone grunted, "Fine." And closed the door behind them. Probably Ness, the little wan—

" _Lumios."_ The teacher said, allowing him to see…a man wearing glasses wearing a nebula patterned sweater under his robe. "Harry, _breath."_ The teacher ordered, "Malfoy, go get the other prefects and tell the other students that they can use Lumos until the power's fixed."

There was a pause before the teacher said, "Malfoy." Snapping the boy out of whatever was going on with him. "R-right, professor." Was he…shaken? What could have scared him to the point of making the snot nosed snake into dropping his facade? Well, besides Barty Crouch Jr. making him a bouncing weasel for all to see.

"Selvis, go with him and ensure that he actually does it." The teacher ordered, "And thank you for alerting us to the argument."

"It wasn't like I had a choice Professor Kale." Selvis retorted, sounding a bit weak kneed, "I didn't want to die after all."

"Plus, you were the closest one to the door." Luna murmured, sounding faint. "I'm…going to try and find the sweets trolley." Ginny mumbled, murmuring Lumos under her breath and disappearing into the darkness.

Professor Kale nodded then turned back to him, "Now Harry, I'm going to free you. Understood?" he nodded or tried to nod as Professor Kale undid the spell.

"Good, now what happened?"

Harry blinked feeling a little drained and sensing an oncoming sore throat as he croaked, "Ness and I got into an argument, about Hogwarts." Even though Professor Kale was being remarkably calm about this whole thing he couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he pressed on. "Ness wanted Hogwarts to close down since he couldn't see any good points about the school and I, sort of snapped."

"I'm sensing there's a but here." Professor Kale prodded.

Harry bit his tongue and mumbled, "He and his friends also stated that Dumbledore wasn't exactly fit to be headmaster after the Tri-Wizard tournament before the argument started."

The man gave a small nod and glanced up at the shattered lights. "Er, sir what happened while we were arguing?"

"Ah, Ness lost controls of his abilities for a moment."

Harry paled, realizing _why_ everyone looked so shaken. A stone of guilt forming as he realized that if Professor Kale hadn't shown up then he would have pushed Ness over the edge and seriously damaged the train in the process. Or maybe gotten everyone _on_ the train killed. "I didn't mean for everything to-," Harry started when Professor Kale held his hand up, "I know, this is a touchy subject for you both. And at the moment Ness isn't in a mentally safe place."

"Sir?" Luna prodded, looking a little scared for her friend, "What do you mean?"

"Well, he's still recovering from the Killing Curse incident of course, which means that his magic is a bit shaky and a double-bladed sword for him at the moment." One that had broken all the lights in the train, "According to his mother Ness will be facing a serious of headaches and as a result, easily aggravated until he's mentally healed."

Luna gave a small nod as Professor Kale nodded and moved to check on Ness, pausing for a brief moment to add, "It's not completely your fault Harry. It's clear that you have profound respect for Dumbledore and Hogwarts, something Ness doesn't have given his time here."

An echo of _"I've been trying to leave here!"_ replayed in his mind as Professor Kale closed the door, leaving him alone with Luna.

"…Were we really that bad?" Harry asked after a tense moment. Hating the silence that stretched on until Luna softly replied, "You guys were in your own world. Ness, I guessed entered his battle phase or something since he was just waiting for you to strike while the yelling and flashing just got worse. I'm surprised the train didn't derail."

"…I see." Harry dropped his head into his hands and bit back a groan of frustration. The school year was already off to a rotten start and knowing his luck it was only going to get a lot worse.

* * *

Ow. Was the only thing Ness could register as Professor Kale read a book, sitting beside him and reading a book as they rode the train—wait, this was a carriage. Was he seriously that out of it?

 _"Well smarty pants, you DID attempt to turn Flash into a physical attack."_ The snarky voice reprimanded, earning a mental scowl as Ness focused on his shoes and breathing, struggling to remember Ms. Anita's breathing exercises.

Counting to twenty had worked, for about five seconds before the headache that had been growing behind his eyes returned with a powerful vengeance, probably because they were literally on the castle's door step.

 _"Great. I'm here and on the wrong foot with Harry. Whoop dee do."_ Maybe he could teleport himself back home? He'd already done it to avoid that wizard lurking at the hotel door, so why not here? It was tempting, and he was actually about to put it into action when Professor Kale grabbed his arm. His presence unusually soothing as he gently said, "It'll be different this year Ness."

"Sure, and I _won't_ get caught up in a murder scheme." He quipped, the words—as usual—out of his mouth before he could stop it. With a groan he flashed the sign and slumped against the carriage wall.

"Well…it'll certainly be interesting-," Professor Kale started before he paused, his eyes wide for some reason.

"Professor?" he glanced up at the man then at the castle they were standing in front of, "Something wrong?"

"Do you sense that?"

"…Sense what?" At the moment, all he could sense was relief and—oh wait, why did he feel…at ease here? This school was full to the brim with magic and yet he felt like he was exploring Twoson trying to rescue Paula from the Happy Happy Cultists. Charged with energy but a sense to be wary of everything.

"Something's wrong." Professor Kale murmured, "Something shouldn't be here…but what?" Ness had a feeling the something was him but didn't dare add on as they moved inside for dinner or tried to. A high pitched cough caused Professor Kale to falter and look at a woman standing by the door, seemingly waiting for them.

"Ah, you're the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Umbridge, right?" Professor Kale stated giving her a friendly smile which Ness felt was a bit much for the pink covered toad—Never mind.

"Correct." She answered returning the smile with one that seemed a bit stiff in his opinion. Perhaps he should listen to the never-ending warning bells—wait…they had been quiet the entire carriage ride to the school. Was this Umbridge woman really a threat—

"Ah yes, Mr. Potter right on time." Well that was a nice jerk from daydream land. He looked over his shoulder and to see Harry walking with Hermione, Ron, Luna and Ginny.

It was tempting to wave hi, but he doubted anything positive would come out of it, not when Harry's words were still eating away at him.

"Ah, that's our cue to leave." Professor Kale started nudging him forward as he moved to say something to Harry over his shoulder when Umbridge cut him off, "Ah, a moment please."

Ness shot her a look of confusion then of distrust at how her smile widened, "Mr. Potter and Earthbound were the ones behind the blackout on the train, correct?"

"Yes, a small disagreement pushed to dangerous levels thanks to a small condition Ness picked up during the Tri-Wizard tournament." Professor Kale answered his tone hardening a bit, "Luckily no harm was done so it'll be a brief separate dentition with me and Professor McGonagall."

On second thought, maybe his instincts were right to treat this woman as a threat as she moved to speak, her sugary tone dripping something he couldn't figure out at the moment. "Is that so?"

"Yes, I was the first teacher on the scene and I'm well aware of Ness's current situation. Unless, you have a different suggestion?" A silent battle was being fought as the two in question looked from teacher to teacher, "No, no. I merely wished to hear the outcome for such reckless behavior." Umbridge stated turning away with a sweet smile, "Enjoy the feast boys."

"If I got a bucket of water, do you think she'd melt or just be set on fire?" Ness asked startling Professor Kale to give a snort before he caught himself, "No, Ness. Now come along, we're going to be late. And Ness, no buckets of water."

"Why water?" Ginny asked catching up to him as they moved inside the Great Hall and sat down at the dinning table."It melts witches." Ness deadpanned, allowing a small smirk to form which slipped off when he spotted Umbridge sitting at the teacher's table.

She wasn't doing anything wrong but…she just set off all warning bells, even louder than the ones warning him to attack the wizards around them, chatting and searching for the first years.

Ness promptly tuned them out, only zoning back in when the Sorting Hat sang a morbid song of warning, very insistent on being wary of those from the stars, the mistakes of the past and the one with scars. Unnerving everyone before the sorting began and the new students were put into houses.

As usual, Dumbledore went to stand up with a tight but reassuring smile as he prepared to launch into his beginning of the year speech. Ness purposely tuned him out, lowering his witch hat so he wouldn't have to look at the man who dragged him back for another year of torture.

He was saying something, telling them to unite and stay strong when Ness suppressed a groan and looked up at the ceiling, _"Hurry up and end already!"_

 **Al* te R#$**

Ness perked up a little in confusion when five items flew high into the sky, electing startled screams from the students as they watched the five items—plates loaded with bread suddenly combust into flames thanks to a barrage of lightning strikes. The startled screaming morphed into full blown terror as the voltage level sent their hairs on end and set the chandler aflame.

"Calm down!" teachers ordered, pointing their wands at the melting gold and trying to put out the flame only to be foiled by more items flying up and exploding.

"Everyone! To your dormitories!" Dumbledore ordered as the fire grew worse, the smoke floating down below as students poured out into the Great Hall, glad for the order they were already obeying out of pure fright.

"What. The heck?" Ness wheezed, his headache now a dull stabbing sensation as Hermione and Ron checked on everyone. "I suppose, one of the hat's warnings come to life." Ginny mumbled, looking shaken and a little dizzy.

"Great. We're being attacked by terrorists." Ness concluded before he went to bed. Biting back a laugh at someone's hopeful, "The rest of the week will be fine you guys!"

If Hogwarts had taught him anything, it was that nothing would go right. And it didn't, the very first few days of school was riddled with more disruptions, thankfully not as violent as the exploding plates and food but still, unnerving and very annoying.

Meals was riddled with burned or under cooked food, something that wasn't the fault of the Houseelves but the _plates_ summoning the food to the table, as if someone had hexed them to rapidly cool or heat up the objects placed on their golden surface. Every class so far had at ended early thanks to being plagued with an unexplainable event.

In Professor Snape's class the boiling cauldron froze and refused to unfreeze until the end of the day, forcing the teacher to teach a lesson on the value and dangers of certain ingredients.

Professor Bins would be in the middle of a long-winded speech when a girly giggle would scare him through a window, promptly ending history class for the day since he refused to come back in. Hagrid's classes went…smoother than usual actually, the monsters were all tame and almost docile allowing them to get better interactions with them for some bizarre reason.

Professor Flitwit would fall asleep the abruptly awake at least six times a class, no one knew why he just did.

Professor Sprout had to deal with plants suddenly exploding into flames at least twice a class and Madam Pomfrey had an influx of students reporting feeling dizzy and woozy after looking at a strange painting that left them feeling depressed. No one could find the painting, not even the troublesome twins.

But after Ness's first Defense Against Dark Arts class they could all agree that Umbridge was going and was having the worst luck out of all of the teachers.

"I wonder what she'll be like." Ginny mused as Ness studied his letter about dentition with Professor Kale, "A wicked witch." Popped out of Ness's mouth, forcing him to flash the sign and earn giggles from their schoolmates as they hurried to class.

"Happy thoughts Ness."

"Easier said than done. My head feels like a piece of glass forced to withstand metal and rock music at full blast."

"…"

"It hurts a lot."

"Thank you."

They entered the classroom and took their seats, surprised to find the simple message of, "Turn to page 39 in your books!" on the chalkboard followed by some basic classroom rules. That…didn't sit right for him as he pulled his book out and ignored the rustle of wands being placed on desks.

"Good afternoon class!" Oh god she was a perky sunflower. He did _not_ need false cheer after being haunted by exploding candles. Yes, they exploded around him. Why? He had no freaking clue and wished it would stop.

 _"As you command."_

And the voice was back. GREAT. He should have been a bit more concerned by that weird, distorted voice but he was distracted by Umbridge saying, "Put your wands away, we have no need for that here."

What.

"What?" Annnd he said it aloud. Peachy. She shot him a pointed look with a cheery smile and reprimanded, "I didn't see your hand Mr. Earthbound."

He bit his tongue to hold back a snark of, "Probably because I was to stunned to remember." As Henry raised his hand, looking confused.

"Yes Mr…?"

"E-erand," Henry supplied, "Don't we um, need wands to practice defensive magic?"

"Normally, yes but this course has been approved by the Ministry of Magic." Umbridge answered prompting one of the flower twins—Rose maybe?—to raise her hand.

"Yes Ms…?"

"Ribbons. But call me Rose." Rose answered before asking, "Shouldn't we be practicing defensive magic? I mean the castle seems super haunted."

Something outside fell with a loud metal bang. "And angry." Rose added with a small cringe.

"This is merely a string of elaborate pranks set off by trouble making students."

"Who have been stalking me and blowing up candles?" Ness questioned earning a squawk of, " _That's_ why the hallways are so dark!?" from someone as Umbridge all but growled, "Hand, Mr. Earthbound."

Bella Field went next, raising her hand and asking, "Is the Ministry really prepared to give us a course to defend ourselves?"

"Yea. The Triwizard fiasco wasn't exactly controlled." Mike Wharf drawled glancing at Ness who was glad to see that SOME wizards had their minds focusing on the real problem.

" _Hands,"_ Umbridge reprimanded, "And that is merely something Dumbledore cooked up to put public distrust in the Ministry's supporters."

 _"Count to ten."_ He told himself, leaning back and looking at the ceiling to calm himself down. He didn't need to start another fight—

"Is there a problem with this Mr. Earthbound?" DID SHE JUST WANT A FIGHT TO BREAK OUT OR SOMETHING?!

He bit his tongue and shook his head no, chanting a mantra of, _"Say nothing."_ As Umbridge pressed, "I need words Mr. Earthbound."

"No." short and to the point, now move onto Ginny who was waving her hand like a flag.

"No what?"

WILL YOU—"No. Miss. Toad." The sign sorry was already flashing in the air as the waving for attention stopped and Umbridge's eyes bulged slightly, "Excuse me?"

"Read the sign." He sighed, dropping his head on the solid piece of wood. He had been so close to getting away _without_ berating a teacher. SO. FREAKING. CLOSE.

"Words. Earthbound."

He shot him a look of, 'can you not read or something?' and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry Professor-," an ugly smile appeared then dropped as he bluntly added, "That no one taught you how to read."

For a moment, no one said anything, then— howls of laughter erupted from the boys as Henry gave a nervous titter.

"I suppose this letter is pretty useless for you." Ness remarked, pulling out the letter he was supposed to give every teacher, "What. Letter Mr. Earthbound?" Umbridge (She doesn't deserve a fancy title.)

"The one I keep forgetting to give my teachers about my new condition." He explained opening it and reading it aloud, abruptly ending the light hearted mood.

"Dear staff and caretakers of Hogwarts, Ness Earthbound has been diagnosed with PTSD—and until he can come to terms and cope with nearly being murdered and the stress introduced headaches from requiring attending Hogwarts, he shall be cranky, quick witted with remarks and difficult to work with.

"If he starts to enter a negative mood and or starts a fight allow to leave and/or send him to the nurse's office or his dormitory to give him some time to calm down and recuperate.

"From, his therapist- Maria Anta, signed by Maria Anta and Marisa Earthbound."

"…Now can we practice defense spells?" Henry asked, his eyes wide as the others looked at their books with small scowls and unsure looks. "We will be doing it by the book. Now read." Umbridge ordered her patience snapped as Ness got up, figuring it was a good time to head to the nurse's office before he created more of an uproar.

"Where are you heading Mr. Earthbound?"

"…Guys. She can't hear either." Ness concluded earning another roar of laughter, Ginny almost fell out of her chair laughing as Umbridge's face turned various shades of red. "I'm heading to the nurse's office. To cool off." He explained, purposely saying it slowly to ensure that she heard it this time around. Maybe it was selective hearing?

"Has this 'PSTD' been clarified by the school nurse?"

Why…? Okay sure, credibility was good but considering the fact that his mother _and_ doctor signed it doesn't that mean _something?_ Plus, was Pomfrey even _trained_ to give a psychological exam to someone? So far all she had done was waved her wand like Cinderella's Godmother. Or maybe the Fairly Odd parents.

"It's the first week to school." Ness deadpanned, "My mother already sent a letter to Dumbledore about this and several letters from my therapist."

"Who is?"

"A therapist. Unless no one taught you about the wonders of mental health." Ness deadpanned, scowling as the class watched with baited breath.

"Has she been vetted by the school?" Umbridge pressed.

"I don't think this crazy school HAS mental health support." Ness retorted, "She's someone a concerned news outlet recommended when I got home."

"So, she's a wizard."

"She's a muggle. Who is bound by the law to keep her mouth shut." Ness clarified, "Why does this matter? I'm a disturbance and I'm leaving."

Umbridge gave a weird hum that greatly unsettled him. "…Okay, I'm not the only one creeped out by this right?" Ness questioned pointing to their 'teacher'. Relived to see everyone nodding in agreement.

"This letter is void."

He blinked and looked at her in disbelief, "As well as your 'condition'." Umbridge continued, "It will continue to be void until you get checked out by a certified therapist-,"

"She _is_ certified." Ness interrupted, frustration bubbling in his mind as the migraine returned with a vengeance, "Even more certified than _you Toad._ "

"That, is debatable."

" _How._ I needed help, she gave it to me and you are-," he stopped as realization hit him, turning his frustration into full blown anger. "You're a muggle hater."

The room grew cold as Umbridge stated, "It is far too dangerous for muggles to know the truth about the magical world."

"That's not it. For all you know I could have just skirted around what _actually_ happened and told her I was kidnapped by a bunch of crazy people with neon green knives who tried to kill me and my friends." Ness countered, "All _you_ know is that she's a muggle and a therapist which APPARENTLY wizards don't know about!"

"Volume level-,"

"I'll control my freaking volume when YOU stop trying to provoke me!" Ness retorted, "Why the heck are you even here if you're going to teach us absolutely nothing!?"

"Point." Someone called as Umbridge turned several shades of red. "Detention." Ness scowled and snapped, "For what?! Yelling or stating the truth?!"

"My office after dinner." Umbridge continued ignoring him as he struggled to control Rockin' begging to be released, "You can join Mr. Potter in a little lesson of telling the truth."

"Professor he can't be with Harry!" Ginny interrupted, "They were the ones behind the blackout!"

Soft murmurs of, "Oh geez." And, "Detention or not, putting them together sounds awful."

"Well then, Earthbound should have thought of that before he started lying about himself."

Oh you have-, "OH. I SEE. _I'm_ the liar here!" Ness exclaimed, "Even though your BOSS allowed not one, but TWO deadly murderers slip free to help Voldemort! Oh! Can't forget how you tried to cover it up by murdering Barty Crouch Jr. and nearly killing my mother and sister in the process!"

Loud gasps as Ginny solemnly backed him up, "I saw it nearly happen, Dumbledore and Professor Snape had to jump in and stop the Dementors."

If there had been any doubts about the Ministry's credibly then they had been cleared away as the Fourth years looked at her in horror. Control completely gone as the bell rang and freed them. "Ohmygosh my best friend's dad works there!" Henry muttered rushing off to meet her and nearly colliding with some Slytherins moving to class.

"What. Did someone murder your puppy?" one of Selvis's friends remarked with a crude smirk that slipped off when Rose sobbed, "The Ministry's trying to kill us with lies!"

"Excuse—huh?" a girl exclaimed looking at Rose in shock as Ness tried his best not to storm past them, "Oy! What's going-," someone started when Selvis stopped him and murmured something about finding out later. Only one thing was clear as the dinner rolled around with the thought of Ness heading up to the woman's office.

Nothing. Was fine at Hogwarts.

* * *

 **You know, when writing Ness's slight PTSD (I'm not saying full since I don't feel that it's a serious case since there are very few triggers for it at the moment and I don't want to mess up portraying it.) and having him point out the lack of therapists in the castle I couldn't help but wonder how the students were coping with everything going on.**

 **I mean, the pureblood wizards and Muggle born students with an active wizard parent in their life is going to cope just fine with magic and the supernatural around them. But how are kids like Harry- who had no clue magic was real and no active wizard parents- or _Hermione_ who had Muggle parents who were most likely in the dark about how dangerous magic could truly be since they never went to Hogwarts themselves going to cope with the fact that the things they saw in fairy tales and video games are real, out to kill them and are seriously dangerous to fool around with? **

**Sure, the teachers are doing their job by teaching them the basics and easing them into everything but one misstep in a spell can have serious and unnerving consequences, like Hermione turning into a cat in Book 2 thanks to grabbing the wrong hair for the poly juice potion.**

 **And if we take into account how crazy Harry's school years were it's a miracle no one collapsed from the stress of- monsters breaking into Hogwarts, possibly being turned into stone at anytime, being used as someone's puppet (Ginny.), A werewolf teacher, A serial killer who broke into Hogwarts, a teacher who assisted in murder and could have killed anyone of them at anytime, The fact that someone everyone knew and was well liked among the student body is _dead_ thanks to Voldemort, a that a teacher was undermining any attempts for them to learn self defense, cursed objects being smuggled into Hogwarts by unknowing students to kill them and Voldemort's crazed generals personally teaching them at school with _torture._**

 **And that's not counting how messed up it is to have Cho-chang seemingly date Harry to try and _replace_ Cedric (I might be wrong, but I remember that Cho only went out with Harry for some sort of flame that Cedric had.) after seemingly moving on.  
**

 **...Yea, I'm dangerous with theories and the fact that I actually took a basic Psychology class this year isn't helping.**

 **Worry for the mental health of the students aside- I mean, I understand that it isn't important _story wise_ to go over the mental health of the student body but Harry _seriously_ needed someone to talk someone who could understand his problem from a neutral view since Book five is when he starts to spiral into being a much more active and 'I'm the only one who can do this hero' thanks to Cedric's death and lash out a bit more with anger and rash decisions.- how was Ness and Harry's argument? **

**I feel that the starting points are good since Harry has been shown to be like Voldemort in feeling that Hogwarts is his true home and that Dumbledore is practically a guardian before his godfather showed up (and died. RIP Black.) and Ness had been experiencing nothing but pain and fear for his loved ones, but how's the execution? I'm unsure about Harry responses since after talking it over with my little sister we realized that Harry had _never_ been in a full blown argument where he's able to defend himself or tear down his opponent with just words. **

**He's always been on the sidelines, throwing in one liners at the very end or blowing up at someone since his point of the story is either ignored or undermined. (Book 4 when Harry insists that he didn't enter the cup but Ron didn't believe him. and Book five where TOAD provokes him into dentition and refuses to heed his warnings which leads to Harry taking it upon himself to save Black since he felt no one would listen or get to him in time and Book six when he got into arguments with Ron and Hermione over the smallest things, granted the Half Blood Prince thing _was_ a small concern. I think. But Hermione, if I'm remembering correctly had no real reason to stay mad at Harry after he revealed he didn't give Ron good luck and was just tricking him into proving he's better than he thinks.)**

 **In short, was Harry's angry responses _okay_ for his defense or not against Ness's responses? Ness I feel is fine since he's going through a _lot_ and has a lot at stake by going to Hogwarts but...yea.  
**

 **Also, Thank you again Lily Baron for the review! :D I have no words on how to reply other than burying my face in a pillow and mentally screaming at the praise since I tend to see myself as a mediocre writer who either makes the characters talk to much or explain to little. Also,are you a psychic? Since one of my few career plans is to become an author with original stories since I spend almost everyday writing or drawing up characters for stories that I never have time to write or feel confident enough to show to other people outside of my household.**

 **And to** **Tail-Dei-Dei-Mon, this story probably doesn't have a lot of reviews because- A. It's hard to find thanks to 's weird set up of organizing cross-overs. (I tend to find super awesome stories by snooping around other authors favorites since it's too tedious to comb through every story and or cross-over the website has to offer for a quick read.) B. People are probably just lurking since the term 'review' is mostly used to give criticism or advice and not for simple comments of 'This is a super awesome story!' or 'Can't see what else you have written!' and C. There either can't find anything wrong with the story to point out or just want to give silent 'This is so cool!' from afar since they don't know how to put what they want to say into words. I'm actually C and B since I can appreciate the story and work put into it but I have almost nothing to say that isn't just mad gushing about how cool it which in hindsight is a little embarrassing to type out if you aren't a bold or confident person.  
**

 **Sort of wishing had a kudos system to show authors that someone likes the story but has no idea what to say to convey what they feel. -_-**


	31. Chapter 31, The Seeds are Planted

The good thing about having friends from different houses was that by the end of the day, _everyone_ had heard about Ness's argument which had landed him in detention with Harry. They were shooting him looks with mixed expressions.

The Ravenclaws seemed unsure about how to deal with the rumors of their new teacher actively provoking a possibly mentally injured student and a muggle hater.

Hufflepuff was fuming but also looking a little skeptical, not sure if it was true or another bold claim by Gryffindor. Their pride was still a little wounded by the _two_ Gryffindor champions of the Tri-wizard cup. Cedric seemed to be on his side but was probably going to have trouble convincing his brethren to be wary of Umbridge. They had the highest ratio of Muggle-born students in their midst. Something Selvis had gleefully pointed out to him one day.

Slytherin—well the few that Ness knew- were shooting him wary looks and glares at their teacher, not liking that she had poked a dangerous lion who had been confirmed to have nearly died thanks to Selvis spreading the word. Malfoy just looked sick while the Gryffindors…

Ness couldn't really tell. Hermione and Ron were fuming about the indignity but were more on Harry's side than his. Which made sense given the argument that had happened mere moments after they had left. He should probably clear that up soon…

Ginny and the fourth years were obviously with him since they had been there but everyone else were just agreeing with the fact that she was a terrible teacher.

And-, "I head she's from Slytherin." That, that lovely divided house system which was probably going to do more harm than good in a few months.

Ness tuned them out as the conversations dipped between Umbridge being an unsuitable teacher and his and Harry's luck at getting detention on their first and third day at school. Instead he Focused on his lukewarm dinner as Ginny fussed under her breath.

"Ginny, fuss any harder and you might actually warm up your food." Ness deadpanned, dreading the time to head up to that toad's office. "I was bound to land in detention some way or another."

"But it shouldn't have been a provoked attempt!" Ginny retorted, "By a new teacher no less!"

"Yea…that's a bit much." Ness agreed glancing at the woman and frowning at how her sweet smile wavered a bit, as if she hadn't planned on so much backlash from her new students. Did she have a different game plan in mind?

Probably since she was directly from the Ministry, Fudge had more or less sent her here in hopes of brainwashing them but hadn't expected such a damaging rebuke from the victims, one of which was a bit well-liked by three of the four houses than the other.

Dinner ended with a small whimper as everyone prepared for bed or last-minute study, everyone but Ness who was trailing behind Harry who was apparently performing the silent treatment. No biggie, the angry stabs at allowing himself to be blackmailed into going along with the enemy still hurt and he doubted he could reign in the bitter thoughts echoing around his head.

Hopefully the Toad wouldn't set him off during detention doing…whatever they were doing. "We're here."

Oh, so Harry wasn't giving him the silent treatment. He looked up from aimlessly studying the walls to see a simple door in front of him and Harry, a door that quickly lead to a pink infested hell with a thousand kitty cats.

Now don't get him wrong, even though he loved King to pieces he still had a soft spot for cats. But this? This was _way_ past crazy cat lady love. At least he hoped it was, he wasn't sure he trusted the Toad's mothering skills with animals given her treatment of her students.

"Right on time." She hummed, a nasty glint in her eyes as Harry silently sat down, his body tense with anger as Ness sat beside him, putting up an invisible wall and focusing on the ugly cats and—oh, that was…odd. Hidden behind a peach pink curtain was an abstract painting that appeared to be…a twisted snow field with a derpy face carved into one of the trees. It was almost…soothing—

"Now Mr. Potter, I believe we have a hundred lines left to do." Oh great, she was talking and pushing a piece of paper and an odd quill towards him. It was setting of several alarm bells off in his head and that ugly smile wasn't helping either, "And you Mr. Earthbound, shall write a hundred-fifty line explaining the dangers of Muggles knowing about the wizarding world. You may copy from this example to your left."

Keep your mouth shut and nod—

"I didn't hear an answer, Mr. Earthbound."

 _"Oh gee. Maybe because I wanted to preserve what little peace we have."_ Ness bit his lip and managed a court, "Yes Professor." Before turning to the long scroll of faded paper awaiting a hundred ink filled lines.

Harry sucked some air through his teeth as he got started, almost acting as if he was in physical pain as he went. That…didn't seem right, but maybe Harry hated the Toad even more than he did. He reached into his pocket to produce a battered but still functioning quill when the Toad stopped him.

"Ah, you must use this quill Mr. Earthbound." She nudged the quill forward, making the alarm bells ring even louder in his head as he studied it. Wondering _why_ he had to use _that_ quill.

"Why." He finally asked, looking at her as his headache morphed into a migraine.

"No real reason." She hummed, her eyes daring him to disobey as he picked up the quill and moved to write the simple line. "Muggles are a danger to wizards with the right information." So were Wizards, but she had overlooked that fact just to be cruel.

Freaking Toad-, wait, why was someone scratching at the glass with a fine metal knife? He glanced up and bit back a frown when he saw that no one else was disturbed by this.

Weird…He looked back down and resumed writing, getting to 'Danger to' when the scratching grew louder and more persistence. What was that?! And why was his migraine growing even worse by the minute?

He glanced at the Quill which seemed to be glaring back at him as he finished the line and heard a crack somewhere behind him.

Two lines in, the cracking grew a little louder.

Three lines in. It was sharp and he was starting to see faint outlines of a blue shield in front of him. But he hadn't used PSI shield yet.

Four lines in. He was growing tired, not sleepy tired but physically tired. As if he had taken a nasty attack and his PSI was going overboard by using his stamina to ensure he didn't have any fatal injuries on him.

Five lines in. **Pain. —S T O P**

"Ah! I wonder when they would show up." What? What was the Toad talking about? Ness dropped the pen—quill—whatever and glared at it, his right hand throbbing like nuts and—blood. He was bleeding. Why was he bleeding? Why was there so much blood—where was it—

His eyes jerked to the paper, his stomach twisting when he saw _his_ blood being used as the ink only extremely faint. How hadn't he noticed? Oh right, because his PSI was going haywire fighting back the cuts—were those words?!

Why—did the quell _carve_ the lines into his hand?!

"Odd that there so faint though…" the Toad hummed, taking his hand and examining it as Harry shot her a hateful glare, pausing only to see if he was okay.

No. He was not okay. Who charms a quill to use your _blood_ as _ink!?_

Breath. He needed to breath and calm the raging headache to do a status check before he fell into shock. Counting to ten would work too right? Also, why was the Toad still holding his hand? Let go. Letgoletgoletgoletgo!

His hand jerked back, his tired brain figuring out he had lost almost all of his stamina but had dropped his measly 20 PSI points down to 12 thanks to accidentally summoning Alpha Shield to ward off the damage.

"Looks like we'll have to add an extra five to your lines Mr. Earthbound." The Toad hummed, somehow oblivious of his panic attack as he looked at Harry's right hand. Feeling sick when he saw the raw red words carved into pale skin. _"I must not tell lies."_

Would that be a permanent reminder? Would that be a permanent scar on his physical _and_ mental state?! How was Harry coping with this?! This wasn't right, this wasn't human! This was—

"Mr. Earthbound. Your lines."

His eyes jerked back to her and that toad lipped smile. She was joking. Clearly she could see that he wasn't able to continue with this, right?

"Lines." She prompted as it suddenly became a lot harder to breath, the realization gleefully stealing all of his air as he realized she wanted him to hurt himself with _magic._

"I can't continue." His voice was shaky, and he felt like throwing up, "I-I need to see Madam Pomfrey."

"No need for that, the wounds will heal over in no time."

Physically yes. Mentally? No.

He needed to leave, to calm down. Ignore the overwhelming urge to break her mind or let her face plant into her hot, poisonous tea an e.

"Mr. Earthbound, stop wasting time and finish your lines." The Toad prompted, her smile growing a little sour as he tried to figure out a subtle way out of this. Why oh why did Rockin' effect _everyone_ in the room? Why couldn't he just break the quill and—

 **? Used** ** _Immobulus Freeze on Bloodborn Quill_**

A swirl of blue light and wind wrapped around the Quill.

 **Super effective!**

What? He carefully picked up, relived to find that alarm bells had shut up and shakily resumed writing, feeling sick as the remains of his blood slipped out of the quill in clods.

"No, no, no!" he jumped as the Quill was plucked from his hand and replaced with a new one, the Toad muttering to herself about it somehow being broken as Ness looked at it in horror.

 **? Used** ** _Beta_** ** _Immobulus Freeze on_** **Bloodborn Quill!**

It broke, and no blood came out as Ness carved the words into the paper. Once again the Toad replaced it, once again the ? broke it. Ramping up through levels of power before it grew frustrated and used a new attack.

 **? Began Rocking his frame.**

What? He jumped as the kittens who had been quietly watching them suddenly broke out into panicked and fear filled yowls, running into their neighbors' paintings before they left the room all together. The castle soon erupting in screams of pain, fear, and sheer surprise as Ness faintly saw what they were fleeing from.

Blasts of Freeze Omega creeping through the background and lashing out with a vengeance, like the user had put the attack on his hands and was trying to claw at everything it could reach.

"What on earth!?" The Toad exclaimed as he and Harry to got his feet, shaking from the never ending screams and wails before they abruptly stopped. ? clearly done with his attack or, out of victims to take his frustration out on.

"Well, I suppose our session is over for now." The Toad grumbled, "Come with me, I'll walk you back to your dormitory."

Ness did his best to ignore the tornado swirling in his stomach as he and Harry were ushered out of the room, risking a glance over his shoulder just in time to see the out of place painting seemingly grinning at him.

Had he…? No, he couldn't have. That painting or, ? was clearly alive before he began panicking…right?

The walk to Gryffindor Tower was very noisy, paintings and portraits were weeping, shaking or just being loud with advice to calm everyone else down. Prefects and teachers were rushing around, ordering curious and frightened students back to bed and tending to the hysterical paintings.

"Harry!" Oh right, Hermione and Ron were prefects now. The Toad begrudgingly allowed them to escort them back as she went to see what she could do to help. "Are you two alright?" Hermione asked, flinching a little when she saw him.

"Y-yea, I think so." Harry mumbled, looking at Ness and searching for explanation. "No." Ness simply answered showing his hand and biting back the urge to throw up. "Are you about to…?" Ron started his eyes widening as exhaustion finally set in and he collapsed on the stairs.

Vaguely aware of someone calling his name as he tried to count to ten and move his hands. Distracted, he needed to stay distracted and move around until he could focus and properly calm himself down.

He was safe, there was no giant skull waiting to kill him, there was no magic trying to rip him to shreds. _(Yes, there is, it's right on your hand!)_

He was safe.

 _(No, you're not. You're never safe here.)_

Safe.

 _(Lieslieslieslies)_

 ** _Safe_**

"Ness." Oh wait, he knew that voice. He looked up, feeling even worse than before as Professor Kale slowly pulled him to his feet, "Come on, let's have some late night hot coco before bed, alright?"

He could only stare blankly as Professor Kale murmured something to Hermione and started babbling about some story his uncle had told him about involving crazy ponies and wild mice.

It made no sense, but it was working wonders for distracting his mind. He barely realized that Professor Kale had placed a glove on his right hand as he sipped on some hot coco, ignoring how his stomach flipped flopped as Professor Kale kept going with his story, or maybe stories since he was talking about Plumbers in red and green.

"Better?" Professor Kale asked after their cups were half empty.

"Y-yea…" Ness replied, feeling a little more awake now that he had some sugar in his stomach. "H-hey, did you see what was attacking the paintings?"

The man shook his head no.

"I…I think Professor To—Umbridge has…" No, that was impossible, PSI based enemies were dead, Giygas had taken his influence away from Earth and reset time. So, there was no way this could be happening…right?

"Has?" Professor Kale prompted as Ness chewed on his lip, unable to deny the clear presence of PSI and the possibilities that someone else had been there.

"I…don't know."

"Need some more time to think about it?"

"…Yea."

"Alright." He glanced at the clock and whistled in surprise, "Midnight already, my where does the time fly." He looked back to Ness, ready to ask if he felt safe enough to head into the dormitories when he found the boy asleep, using his arms and hat as a pillow.

"Ah, camp out in my office." He murmured, grabbing a blanket and pillow to properly put the boy to bed, keeping an unusually sharp eye on a still picture of outer space as he worked.

* * *

Morning started up with quiet students and frightened whimpers as they passed the paintings mirroring their expressions, tired and unsure what to be on guard for.

What had happened last night? She had finally put herself to bed after working on her potions homework when the entire castle had woken up in a domino chain of screams. Endless and eternal screams that had abruptly stopped after a few minutes.

No one knew what had happened, no one knew what had set the chain off. She had practically tackled Ron for knowledge when he came back pale and almost sickly, but Professor McGonagall stopped her, forcing Ginny to sit down with the other confused students before she explained.

"It appears that another painting started attacking the others, starting from Professor Umbridge's office and ending right at the entrances of all four houses during Potter and Earthbound's detention." Everyone looked at Harry who had his hand uncharacteristically hidden in his pocket and looking a little shaken.

Ness wasn't there. Setting Alarm bells off in her head until Professor McGonagall added, "Earthbound had a panic attack, from what we aren't sure yet. But he is currently staying with Professor Kale until he is ready to come back to bed."

The fourth years quickly filled the air with possible solutions, "That witc—Professor Umbridge probably provoked him again!"

"Ness is suffering from PTSD, Professor! She probably triggered it!"

"Maybe _she_ set off the paintings when Ness got to mouthy for her to handle!"

"She's a terrible teacher!"

"Quiet." It wasn't angry or sharp, just. Tired. Their House Head polished her glasses with a weary gesture before she faced the worried fourth years, "We don't know for sure what set Ness off, we'll have to wait and ask him. _Politely."_ The other students flinched at the sharp tone "When he's ready to explain what happened and how we can possibly avoid it."

Ginny raised her hand, feeling a little silly at the motion until Professor McGonagall called on her, "Professor, Ness has a letter that excuses him from certain classes but, Professor Umbridge won't accept it."

A flush of red anger briefly colored her face before she swallowed it, "Why not?"

"Because he went to a Muggle Therapist." She finished, "He didn't say if he told her the exact truth or anything, she just refused to listen to him after that."

"Had he told her everything?"

"We don't know." But knowing Ness he would be careful to skirt around the truth to protect her. He didn't want to endanger anyone he cared for after all. "She wouldn't let him explain since he got mad and pointed out that she didn't know the full picture."

"Which is how he got detention." Henry added, looking a little sick. As Ginny sent him a small grateful nod, she doubted she could resume being civil as the anger clawed at her throat, demanding to call Umbridge a couple foul things before the night was over.

"I see, I'll have a talk with her." Professor McGonagall started, before she ordered everyone back to bed. Even though everyone knew that they weren't going to get pleasant dreams or even fall back to a blissful state of unawareness.

Not when something had triggered Ness and another painting to attack. An unknown painting at that since Professor McGonagall hadn't mentioned which one painting in Umbridge's office had started the chain of fear and pain.

When 5 AM rolled around, Ginny couldn't sleep. She was restless, eager to do _something_ to help her friend or maybe solve what was going on at their school. So, she headed out. Careful not to awake any of the poorly sleeping paintings as she tried to contact Luna and Selvis.

 _"You up to?"_ Selvis whispered, spooking her a little since she had honestly believed that she was the only awake at the moment.

 _"I think the better question is, who isn't."_ Luna pointed out, _"All in favor of meeting on the East Roof?"_

 _"Sure, better than sulking in the library."_ Selvis agreed, quickly adding, _"I like to read when I'm nervous. Shut up."_

"I wasn't going to ask." Ginny retorted, a little relived to hear that Selvis still had that haughty flame in his voice. The roof they had meet on during their second year was as quiet as ever, even with Luna humming to herself in a lilac purple night robe with outlandish patterns sitting on the edge, kicking her feet in the air.

"Hey," Ginny greeted, wrapping her thin tartan pattern night robe tightly around her, "Bad dreams?"

"Theories." Luna admitted, pausing in her song to look up at the moon.

"Of course, it's theories." Selvis softly grumbled, joining them in an unusual neon green night robe. "Shut up. My cousin made it for me." Selvis grumbled, pointedly looking toward the woods as the girls admired it.

"So, what happened?" Selvis asked, breaking the brief silence and looking at Ginny, "Professor Snape informed us that a painting from Umbridge's office started attacking the other paintings but…" he trailed off, unsure where to go next.

"Don't know…We heard the screams, but we were merely told a painting got upset for some reason." Luna mumbled, "Perhaps a trapped spirit?"

"Same story, but Ness had a panic attack."

They stiffened and looked at Ginny as she pressed on, feeling a little frustrated at how little they had to go on, "No one knows what triggered it, the other fourth years and I blamed Umbride but…he's staying with Professor Kale for now…"

"What did that Toad do…?" Selvis breathed as Luna played with the fabric belt, "I heard she provoked Ness into getting a detention."

"She did. Probably did the same with Harry." Ginny balled her hands into fists, "It was awful, hearing her poke and prod at Ness's temper then accusing him of making it up and needing to be seen by a _wizard_ therapist."

"He wasn't?" Selvis started when Luna hummed, "He lives in America, so of course he'll see a muggle therapist."

"Oh yea…" Selvis trailed off then frowned, "Hold on, then that means she wasn't planning for the backlash."

They looked at him in dumbfounded silence, prompting him to explain, "Well, she's from the Ministry which is in just as much fire if not more than Hogwarts. I bet she took advantage of Ness and Harry's shaken states to prove to us that they were just faking it and lying."

"He's not though." Ginny pointed out, feeling a little upset. "You saw them, they came out shaken and terrified-,"

"Yes. _We_ know that." Selvis interrupted, "But do the public know that? Maybe, all the Ministry cares about right now is turning the castle loony and an American wizard into their scapegoat for revenge at pointing out how badly their doing their jobs two years in a row."

"Hence why Umbridge is here, to prove to the public that they were right and that Ness and Harry only found out the truth _because_ they were mentally unstable."

Ginny gave a frustrated huff, and folded her arms, "I hate politics."

"Don't hate them that much." A wicked grin appeared on Selvis's face, "After all, it's turning _against_ our dear Toad."

"…"

Selvis gave a weary sigh and deadpanned, "Ness. She didn't expect Ness to have friends _outside_ of his house spreading the news of his treatment. Which is turning everyone against _her_ since they know something is seriously wrong with Ness to turn him into a shell of his former self."

"Oh yea…a couple Ravenclaws were muttering about how lackluster Umbridge's classes were since we had already covered those in our spare time." Luna recalled, "Seeing Ness just upped the fire, someone even asked me if he was alright."

"I think Cedric was shooting him worried looks at dinner." Ginny recalled, "As if he was worried for him."

"We're all just worried that Ness is going to blow up the castle." Selvis deadpanned, "But I can guarantee that some of the other Slytherins will be upset with her just having us read books when crazy things like this is happening."

"Karma~," Luna sang as Ginny mulled that over, a little surprised at how quickly everything was turning in their favor as they hurried back to their dorms to get dress and eat breakfast. The Great Hall moody and fearful as the Gryffindors talked about Ness's PTSD, explained it to others and shot daggers at Umbridge who looked a little miffed about something.

They quickly shut up when Ness appeared, wearing his rainbow hoodie from the train and shorts while looking dead tired. He barely managed a neutral, "Yo." Flashing a peace sign with his right hand—which was now wearing a finger-less glove with a smiley face on the back- in greeting before he started nibbling on some toast dripping with sweet grape jelly.

He didn't seem to acknowledge the unsure glances or sudden lack of conversation as he ate a pale impression of breakfast, ignoring the thankfully warm food and just focusing on his toast. "Are you alright?" Ginny asked, angry at herself for being so nervous around Ness.

Granted, him looking like he had just crawled out of a grave wasn't helping settle her nerves. "Not really," Ness mumbled, forcing a small smile, "Professor Kale and McGonagall are letting me skip today to try and recover, hence the lack of uniform."

"It was that bad?" Harry asked, his voice low and unsure as Ness gave a small shrug, "Sort of…I'm more freaked out about the…symbolism on my hand than anything else."

"Symbolism…?" Ginny glared at the Toad and Ness shakily said, "Harry has it to, it just—affects me more because of…ya know." Dying floated in the air, loud and prickly as everyone looked at him, shocked that this was much worse than they thought it was.

"I'm gonna go now." Ness mumbled, "I need to write some letters." She had a feeling there was something more to the story, but she would wheedle it out of him after classes. He clearly needed sometime alone. Away from wizards.

"Harry? What was Ness…" someone in Ron's year started when Hermione spoke up, her voice clipped and angry, "He probably means the message _carved_ into his hand thanks to a charmed quill."

Harry shot her an annoyed look as Ginny practically crawled over and yanked Harry's right hand for proof, her breakfast coming back up at an alarming rate as saw the faint, _"I must not tell lies."_ Scratched into his pale hand.

"Oh my god." Ginny breathed, letting it drop as Harry looked away, either ashamed or embarrassed that everyone at their table knew about it.

"D…does this normally happen at Hogwarts?" A first year asked, her eyes wide and filled with frozen tears as her friends tried to comfort her. "No…I think that this year is…just a bad one." Ginny mumbled, moving to help calm the girl down as the other tables looked at them, sensing something amiss but unsure why. She caught a Selvis trying to mouth, "What's up?" and Luna with her eyes narrowed, holding a charm and possibly trying to read her mind to keep it private.

It didn't work but the signs of concern were nice. It showed that Selvis was right, everyone was turning against Umbridge. And throughout the week it showed.

Every teacher expect Umbridge changed their lesson plans to included defense spells and charms for them to use. The history teacher substitute talked about how their ancestors fought against unknown enemies to give them hope. Professor Kale was very keen on emotional support, having cups of hot coco for every student in his class and teddies bears for the first and second years to coddle and hug.

Umbridge had moved up to taking her frustration out on the teachers as she became High Inquisitor, allowing her to observe (harass) teachers to ensure they were fit for the job.

"I hope one of them accidentally hexes her." Selvis grumbled as they walked up to Astronomy class, Ness had thankfully been able to rejoin lessons after that terrible screeching event and had been very…off.

"Doubt it, that'll give her a chance to fire them right on the spot." Ness pointed out, throwing a ball up with his left hand. His right hand limply laying at his side.

"Maybe whatever stirring up trouble at Hogwarts can hex her." Ginny offered, frowning as Ness flinched a little. "Ohhh, you know something!" Selvis exclaimed, looking giddy to _finally_ get something to answer his many questions.

"Maybe…" Ness muttered, pushing the door open to the West Tower where their classmates were watching Professor Kale, happily setting up as the Toad watched from a corner, to avoid being 'disruptive'.

"…Maybe we can throw her off a-," Ness started when Ginny and Selvis elbowed him hard, hissing, _"No, Ness."_

"Kill joys." He muttered, the group briefly dispersing to grab empty telescopes and blankets as Professor Kale cleared his throat, signaling that the lesson was starting.

"Alright, now today we're going to focus on one of Jupiter's Moons, Io. Now can anyone tell me how many moons Jupiter has exactly?"

A Slytherin girl by the name of Samantha raised her hand, "53."

"Excellent Samantha! Now, Io can be told apart from its many brothers and sisters by its yellowish hue caused by its many active volcanoes." Professor Kale explained, moving on to explain what Muggles believed Io to symbolize and what it meant to wizards to show the vast differences as they searched for Io.

"Ah! Professor! I think I found it!" someone cried as Ginny tweaked her telescope, trying to find Io among the starry backdrop of space.

"Here she goes…" Ness muttered, startling her out of her search as she caught the tale end of that dreadful cough, "Oh er, Yes Umbridge-," Professor Kale started when he spotted a student jousting a telescope, trying to get a better view, "Ah! Rose be careful with that one, one of the legs are loose and I haven't gotten around to fixing it yet!"

"Oh! Sorry Professor!"

"Hem-hem!" If that hadn't been a poor example of a fake cough Ginny was _sure_ the woman was actually talking about the hems of dresses. "Oh right, you had a-," Professor Kale started when he once again got distracted by student, giving his telescope a frustrated glare, "Ah, here try zooming out a bit Henry."

"Thanks Professor."

"HEM. HE-,"

"Tea's in the yellow tea pot Umbridge!" Umbridge shot him a venomous glare as she tried to speak up, only to get interrupted by Ness, "Professor, is this Io?"

"Let me see." Ginny wondered if it was a silent conspiracy to ensure that Umbridge _never_ got a word in edge wise given how energetic Professor Kale was when it came to studying the stars, "Ah, you actually found Autonoe, that's a satellite moon."

"Why is it green?" Ness asked, earning some curious eavesdropper as Professor Kale gave his theory then turned to Umbridge, "You were saying something?" he asked, ignoring the soft snickers from those glad to see Professor Kale subtly turn the tables on the toad.

"Yes," Umbridge stiffly stated, "According to your papers, you were born in America and attended an everyday school."

"That's correct, worked my way up to college in hopes of becoming an astronomer and study the stars." Ginny didn't like where this was going and neither did any of the other students, their work slowly being forgotten as Umbridge continued, "And yet here you are, an astronomy teacher in Hogwarts."

"I was surprised given how very little magic I have." Professor Kale was a squib? She never would have guessed it but…that would explain why he was so prepared for such emotional attacks. He never had magic to rely on, so he used the skills Muggles had to make up for it.

"And your parents were both Muggle born wizards." Umbridge hummed, her smile tightening a little at the very title of 'Muggle born'. A couple Gryffindors stiffened in offensive as Professor Kale hummed in agreement and moved to encourage the students to resume their studies.

"Please get to the point Umbridge, it's late and I'd like my class to get to bed on time without Flitch breathing down their necks."

"Simply put, I'm wondering how a mere _squib_ was even offered such a high ranking job. Granted, your much more talented than Trawleny." Professor Kale stiffened a little his glasses hiding his eyes a little. "But how could you possibly defend your students from this new threat? Hmmm?"

They looked at their teacher, their breaths held at the fact that Professor Kale _couldn't_ protect them and that Umbridge was right for once. "You know…you tend to sell those without magic or pure blood short Doleres." Professor Kale noted, adjusting his glasses and reaching into his robe pockets. "After all…all these attacks started and will continue _because_ you keep poking holes in an already tense situation."

"So, you claim, I don't exactly see any proof of this Astra." Umbridge replied.

"Don't trust everything you see with your eyes Umbridge, after all. Dumbledore didn't just hire me for my smarts." He adjusted his glasses one last time and turned to face Umbridge, his calm sliver eyes glowing a starry purple and blue.

They recoiled slightly as Professor Kale looked up at the stars then back at her, "Umbridge, A teacher of none shall soon get her comeuppance when the holes she poked form as one before Hallow's eve."

"W…what?" Umbridge stammered as Professor Kale bluntly stated, "You'll soon have an empty classroom, with those you insulted looking toward someone they can trust, who can teach, who can protect. I'd be careful if I were you." The glow faded from his eyes as he turned around, "After all, the stars never lie, they merely misinform all who cannot think to see all options. Trawnly can see what _will_ happen. I can see what _might_ happen without fail. Class dismissed."

And with that their teacher walked toward the exit, pausing only to add, "Also, I carry brass knuckles around to defend myself. The best offensive is a good surprise." Before he left.

They watched the doorway in stunned silence before Ness whispered, "You just got owned…" and walked out, she and Selvis quickly following behind him as the others got the message, amazed at their simple, forgettable teacher.

"Well…looks like we'll have a school revolution on our hands soon." Selvis faintly noted, pausing at the stairwell that separated them to their dormitories.

"Yea…I never knew Professor Kale was a Squib though." Ginny admitted, glancing at Ness and jumping at how pale he looked, "Ness?"

"He's not a squib." He mumbled.

"What, is he 'Superman' or 'Ironman'?" Selvis teased, looking very proud of himself for being able to reference American superheroes.

"No. He's." Ness glanced around before pointing at his wand. The wand that was useless since he was a PSI user—

"No way…" Ginny breathed as Selvis whispered, "I thought you guys were elemental people!" and glanced around, pulling them back into the shadows to have a semi private conversation.

"I don't know, PSI is fairly new, remember? But for him to be an adult PSI user…" Ness trailed off and shook his head, "That's impossible, there's no way he could have been around for Giygas's first attack."

"First attack?" Ginny echoed as Selvis frowned, trying to recall something, "I think it was mentioned in that weird comic…He was some sort of super villain who could bring things to life or something." Selvis glanced to Ness, "Right?"

"Pretty much-," Ness started when he stopped, his eyes widening in horror and an emotion Ginny couldn't figure out as he shakily breathed "Peanuts."

Selvis scowled and gently nudged the boy, "So am I right or wrong? Pretty much is a neutral answer Earthbound-,"

"How long did that comic run?" Ness asked, looking desperate as he looked at Ginny for an answer. She frowned in thought, trying to remember how long the comic had actually gone for before she answered, "I don't exactly know _when_ it stopped, but I know I stopped seeing them around the time Ron went to Hogwarts."

"My neighbors were muggles." Selvis explained, "I used to babysit their kids and every time they would force me to read an old newspaper comic detailing your adventure a year before I started Hogwarts.."

"…Ness? You okay?" Ginny asked as Ness looked awful, pale and clammy as he thought something over. What was so concerning about that comic that it would make Ness look so feverish? Was something important and secret printed that he just realized the wizarding world could read about?

"No. Because this entire situation is screwed up." They glanced at one another before looking at Ness, trying to figure out a way to help or maybe calm the boy down when he suddenly broke into a barely contained walk.

"Hey wait!" Selvis protested, scowling a little as he caught up to him and tried to pull him back, taking caution to grab his right arm and not his hand, "What's going on, we can help-,"

"Letters—I need to write some letters." Selvis recoiled from the look of pure fear and apprehension on Ness's face. It was so odd, so unsettling to see the boy who had braved through their crazy school despite the fear of getting his family killed, or worse look so…so _different_ over one simple name.

A name he had barely reacted to earlier in the year. "Ness, you need to calm down. Why do you need to write home." Ginny tried, feeling vastly unhelpful to calm the damaged boy down.

"You shouldn't-," he take a shaky breath before he forced out, "You guys shouldn't know about Giygas."

"Well, we don't _know_ him, we just know his name-," Selvis started, slowly letting Ness go as he looked at Ginny, pleading for her to help him as they walked on a minefield of emotions.

"No. You guys shouldn't know about him at _all._ " Ness replied, looking frustrated as the candles began to flicker, _"Because Giygas erased the entire thing from time."_

"Wha-," Oh. OH. Ginny and Selvis weakly shared glances as Ness ran, probably not even realizing he had teleported himself back to the dormitory as the two wizards tried to stomach the idea of a person so powerful and clearly unsettling to Ness that he had erased his adventures. Or, attempted to.

"So…do we mug Professor Kale or do we just tip-toe around Ness?" Selvis asked, sounding sick as Ginny mumbled, "Let's just. Wait. We can't help Ness if he doesn't calm down and explain who Giygas is."

"Right. Right. So, we murder the Toad then?"

Ginny gave a weak snort of laughter as Selvis kept going greatly unsure of himself, "I'm pretty sure I know a couple kids back home who knew how to kill toads. Salt was a big favorite of theirs. Then again Muggle kids _are_ quite weird."

"At the moment, everyone is weird." And the weirdness might never end. Not at this rate.

* * *

 **The joys of _actually_ reading the Earthbound Wiki and finding out new things. Joys.**

 **Also thank you all so much for the reviews! I kept giving myself heart attacks when I saw them since I tend to think on the pessimistic side of things ^-^;**

 **Helenthemoon: Yea, and we haven't even entered the month of tricks and spooks yet! :D**

 **Baronlily: To your first review (Unless I mixed them up since my email is a cluttered mess.) I guess I got this good from taking things I saw in other fanfictions and working it into my style, like the spacing for " e' was picked up from an angst story about Izuku from My Hero Academia since it's theorized he would suffer from panic attacks thanks to his horrible childhood. Plus, writing creatively almost everyday ever since I was around 12(?) Sort of helps since I have far to many ideas in my head.**

 **Also thank you for saying I'll be a great author! I'm sort of aiming for an author career since I love to write and draw out things and making people happy.**

 **CybeastFalaz: Umbridge has personally moved into hell by ticking a mentally damaged Ness and his friends off. And she's BARELY into the school year.**

 **Ed/Guest: I almost cried from this since I was worried I was screwing things up by having no real clue who Ness was or how his adventure started at first. THANK YOU SO MUCH! :D Also, this story has been going on since 2016? Man I'm a slow updater. ;_  
**

 **Also, According to the calendar of 1995 and the Master timeline of HP-Lexicon, Harry's first three days of school started and ended on a _weekend_. **


	32. Chapter 32, Halloween Unease

Heavy breathing…that was all that filled his ears as he stood strong alongside his friends. They could do this. They could win!

Right?

Attack after attack.

One fell to their combined might, an old friend…right? He couldn't see through the swirling mist in front of his eyes, forcing him to focus on one being as the heavy breathing grew louder, echoing hotly in his ears as he checked on his friends' stats and waited to call out a heal.

 _N…_

Nothing was working. But they could find a weakness, they had trained, they had traveled through time. They were ready! Right…?

 _Ne…_

Nothing was working. Why? What were they doing wrong? They had to win. They had to put this monster—no, _victim_ out of it's misery before it's insanity took away everything it once considered dear and near to its heart. If it had a heart. He wasn't sure…it was an alien after all.

 _Nes…_

Help. They needed help. P…wait…why couldn't he she her? Why couldn't he see his best friend? Why couldn't he see any of them?! What was going on? And the cry for help…it was answered by…cries?

Cries of pain? Cries of anguish? Cries of…fear? He turned around in the red, sickening moving vortex his stomach dropping as he saw the people who had been giving him nothing but trouble, nothing but pain looking at him in terror. All of them forced onto the ground as something stood behind them, moving back and forth like colorful vapors as they clearly stood guard.

 _Ness…_

He turned back, his stomach violently twisting as he found the monster, the victim, the alien giving a twisted smile. One the being probably found genuine, joyful even without realizing how far gone and menacing it truly was.

 _Ness… happy. I'm…happy…no longer…alone…no longer…_

The smile grew into a twisted mess as the words slammed into him, rattling his body until his teeth chattered from the implication. The implication that Giygas was happy that he was like _him._ And he was. He _was_ like Giygas. Since…he was still influenced by him…Right?

Right?

R

I

G

H

T

?

Ness sat up, his body feeling like a crushed balloon as he tried to breath in some clean air, try and get rid of the slimy feeling lingering in his chest as he tried not to hurl onto his covers that greedily clung to his body.

Ignoring how the heat was eating him alive as he tried to focus. "Nightmare…" he finally wheezed, pulling himself into a hug as he counted to twenty.

"Just. A. Night. Mare."

But was it? This sadly wasn't the first time he had dreamed of Giygas in such a horrific manner. It was bad enough fighting him the first time knowing that all this happen was because his parental figures had been ripped away from him by life, driving him insane and full of grief was one thing. But to replay that moment of fear, knowing that everything he and his friends had were completely useless to defeat him? Horrifying.

But now…now that _something_ was attacking the castle, seemingly answering to _his_ wishes made it worse. So. So much worse.

Breath. He needed to breath. Everything would be fine. He'd get his letters back from his friends and family confirming that only they knew about Giygas and it would be alright. It would be because of something else that the castle had seemingly turned against its occupants.

But that wasn't true. He would never get those letters back. Because someone was in his way. Someone was _purposely_ digging toxic spikes into his mind. Making his simple attempt of recovering from nearly dying so much worse.

The nightmares increased after the detention—(Don't think about it. Don't think about it. You're safe. Safe.) but the sickening though of Giygas's influence still lingering around the land. Around _him_ made it worse.

It meant that the terrible future Buzz-Buzz came from still existed, it meant that Porky was still evil, it meant that Giygas was still around. But it also meant that he had _no clue what to do since he couldn't be sure._

How could Giygas's reset be interrupted when they had traveled back in _time_ to stop him? Nothing could have interfered. Nothing!

And yet here he was. Shivering in bed and trying to control his breathing before he wrote in the journal. He couldn't tell Ginny and the others. Not yet. He couldn't write home, not without the fear of never receiving the letter thanks to a certain toad who had attacked not just Kur, who had volunteered after Ness noticed that the owls he used never came back with mail.

But also, Hedwig who had apparently crash landed and interrupted a history class, alerting everyone that something was up and very, very wrong.

 _"I wish I could write home…without someone finding out."_

 _"Wish…-"_

 _"OUT."_

He did _not_ need that possibly made up voice in his head trying to comfort him. Not now. He needed to calm down. To heal. To repair himself before he could find anything else out.

But with the rising sun breaking through his tightly shut curtains. He doubted that would happen anytime soon.

 _"I really hate Hogwarts."_

October came in like a cackling Jack-O-Lantern in Ness's opinion, the week was barely ending with the promise of the first Hogsmeade trip of the entire school year leaving everyone able to attend planning to leave the haunted castle in droves to gain some sense of peace.

Halloween pranks had started all around the castle. Candles suddenly went out, plunging entire hallways into darkness, the armored knights would be found in the most ridiculous of places, sometimes sitting in the Great Hall like a person getting a meal or the Greenhouse as disembodied garden gnomes.

A Ravenclaw found a knight's helmet resting in a bookshelf, hidden behind books until the inspecting girl stumbled upon it for a simple question about Force charms.

Eerie laughs floated through the castle, sometimes in the middle of the night, other times in the morning, some of the dishes were covered in living worms or insane amounts of ketchup to be seen as blood and guts, the Potions classrooms all had an eerie green glow that never went away and Umbridge began receiving ominous letters after he and Harry realized someone was reading their mail. Every morning a plate would implode, and a letter written in Halloween orange ink would appear. Refusing to be ignored as it simply blew up more plates until Umbridge read it.

That weird attack showing up every time as Ness focused on swallowing a piece of toast and getting ready for another day of torture. Trying to figure out how to get some help before he himself blew up the castle.

He tried to go to Kale with his fears about Giygas but the man had suddenly become a elusive and impossible to catch after and before class. He seemed to be spending more time with Professor Trelawney, who sadly hadn't had an epic boss moment against Umbridge like her best friend had and was fretting over possibly getting fired but no one was sure. Professor Kale was like Professor Bins, impossible see or hear unless it was a good day.

And once again, he didn't want to burden his friends, not without spilling his guts and accidentally releasing an attack out of fear from digging up old memories. Plus, the fact that Selvis pointed out that Umbridge had overheard them didn't help.

It made sense though, Ness rarely sent letters home since they took _forever_ to get there and back. He tried to send monthly letters for quick updates but not that many people knew _when_ he exactly sent it. It happened at random and depending on the weather. So, to have all of his letters timely intercepted meant that _someone_ was watching for them and _knew_ ahead of time that he was expecting mail.

He really wished he understood England's laws a bit better to sue Umbridge for reading his mail. Which was against the law in America. But for now, he would merely accept keeping his mouth shut and burning her alive with death glares. For fear of losing control and killing her. Something that was becoming a better idea as the year went on.

Perhaps he could use Selvis's advice to use his supportive students and housemates to blacklist Umbridge for reading his and Harry's mail and possibly doing the same to them.

Oh gods…His stomach dropped at the idea of _everyone_ connected to him getting their mail read. All because the boy who shouldn't be here kept coming up with more and more troublesome problems that _loved_ to pull everyone into his mess.

 _"If only everyone knew about the dangers without it being spread mouth to mouth…"_ Ness lamented as Ginny gently nudged him, singling that it was time for class.

"I'm going to find out you know." Ginny murmured, shooting him a scarily perfect impression of his Mother's look of 'we can do this the easy way or the hard way' as they headed to charms.

"You can try." Ness replied, mentally to tired to try and stop her from finding out. He needed _someone_ to spill to, before his feelings of home sickness drove him mentally over the edge to lash out at someone.

"Challenge accepted."

As usual, school went by as normal. Something blew up, teachers pounded defense measures into their heads before Umbridge created a new rule to stop them, Umbridge's class was abruptly ended by something random and Ness ignored her homework prompt. Write an essay. Which meant using his right hand. Which was happily smiling up at him and trying to give him positive thoughts to weigh out the consequences of murdering Umbridge in her—

 _"Happy thoughts…HAPPY THOUGHTS."_

Like Hogsmeade. He was actually…sort of excited to be out of the castle which had probably reduced his mental and PSI control almost next to none. Although he was finding odd little corners that just left him feeling…weirdly relaxed and at ease. Especially this one spot in the left corridor of the seventh floor. It was a bit unnerving know that he thought about, there wasn't anything there to entertain him or study just…empty space with basic castle decor.

Maybe he should try looking around it a bit more thoroughly next time he wandered up to the random corners…

But for now he had to focus on surviving lunch, afternoon classes then dinner…with Harry shooting him nervous glances. Odd, he and Harry still hadn't apologized for the argument and they've barely talked to one another during the rare moments they bumped into each other, Harry out of fearing that he might trigger another panic attack and Ness not trusting his mouth around Die hard lover of Hogwarts—

He really needed to focus on what was in front of him. Which was a smiley face on a meat pie. "…Ginny?" Ness tried, surprised to see Ginny stabbing her smiley meat pie in frustration, "Haunted Castle."

"Oh…Well, at least it's being nice today-," Umbridge's plate exploded for no reason, ending a couple conversations before everyone resumed their nervous chatter.

Everyone alert and prepared to bolt from another fire or worse, another explosion of the giant glass ceiling that put one third of every house into the medical wing at the very end of September.

"I'm surprised no one's blaming Umbridge for all this chaos." Selvis grumbled, the group attempting to work on their homework in their club room, "Everything started the moment _she_ showed up."

Ginny gave a small nod before she glanced at Ness, still hellbent on wheedling the truth out of him. So far, she was failing since she had grown up in a family where tact wasn't needed. Just brute determination.

"Well, maybe some of your Slytherin buddies will get tired of joining the groups of people tip toeing around and complain." Ginny offered, earning a snort from Luna who was doodling on a piece of empty parchment, "Doubt it, the Ministry will just tune them out and force Umbridge to step up her game. Making it worse for us."

"We need a petition or something to get her removed." Ness stated, slowly writing down Ginny's notes for a Charms essay. Doing his best to ignore the stabbing pain that was—No, he was safe. His hand was merely throbbing, he could keep going.

But maybe practicing he should switch over to good old lefty. It rarely got a chance to do something other than pick up and hold things after all.

"So, anyone got plans for Hogsmeade?" Selvis asked, "I'm planning on buying some prank items from Zonko's."

"I was thinking of searching around the area for some Fog frogs." Luna mused, "They migrate over here for Halloween." Selvis shot her his normal look of 'you're not right in the head'. As Ginny shrugged, "I'll probably just pester Ness."

"Gee. Thanks little sister I never asked for." Ness retorted, a small smile forming as Selvis bluntly said, "Wouldn't she be the little brother since she's so violent?" and received a punch to the shoulder from said little 'brother'.

"What! It's not _my_ fault your surrounded by barbarians!" Selvis retorted, "Tell her Luna!"

"I'll send your parents your remains Selvis."

"LUNA!"

Ness buried his face in his hat, laughing as Ginny and Selvis began squabbling over having many siblings over none before Selvis wormed his way out of the argument to try and do his homework. "Ness! Let me borrow your-," he stopped when he saw the messy scribbles of English opened his mouth to retort something then stopped when he saw where the quill was.

"Thanks for nothing Toad." Selvis grumbled, moving to steal Ginny's notes and start up another argument. It was…sort of nice having a bit of familiarity in the rapidly changing castle and atmosphere, it reminded him that even though he was possibly screwing up big time that there was still hope for a casual evening before dinner.

"Ness, have you been sleeping alright?" he glanced up from his thoughts, cringing to see Luna intently studying him as she offered, "I have some sleep remedies if your homesick again."

"It's so weird to know that you suffer from childish homesickness—Will you stop that Weasly?!" Selvis angrily swatted her hand away as Ness nervously laughed, "It's just some nightmares." Wait, he didn't mean to say that. Darn his carefree personality!

"Nightmares?" Ginny echoed her voice teetering on being worried or flat out parental as Selvis looked up, opened his mouth, thought better of it and hid behind a book. Deciding that giving him a small amount of privacy was better than nothing.

Ness rubbed the back of his head, his hand feeling cold and clammy against his hair as he tried to avoid thinking about _him._

"Y-yea, just some bad ones…"

"About Giy-,"

"Don't." Ness started, cringing at how loud his voice sounded before he weakly finished, "Just, avoid mentioning that name. For now."

Ginny and Selvis exchanged looks as Luna hummed and glanced toward the door, as if searching for eavesdroppers. "I have some dream pillows if you want to borrow them. There old fashion pillows stuffed with herbs to relieve stress."

"Old fashion?" Selvis echoed.

"Muggles usually use it, my Dad started doing it after my mom died." Luna gave a casual shrug and tapped her book a little, "She blew up experimenting with magic, I was really little when it happened so nightmares happened often since I didn't really understand what happened."

Ginny gave her a sympathetic smile as Ness nodded, "May she rest in pieces—peace."

"…I was convinced you were just born from a tree since your so loopy." Selvis admitted, blushing a little as Luna gave him an almost surprised look then started to giggle as Ness tacked on, "I was sort of thinking she was a cloud person. There so floaty!"

"Really you guys." Ginny deadpanned, facepalming as Luna's giggles turned into muffled laughter.

"What! She's _far_ to loopy to be human!" Selvis protested as Ness mused, "Maybe her mom's from Onett, we have some pretty strange people there. Like jerk cops!"

"Wait, why do you have jerk cops?" Selvis asked, looking in him in slight horror as Ness explained the thankfully not PSI influenced police force he had to beat up in order to leave Onett after breaking a small rule.

"What is WRONG with your town." Selvis demanded as Luna and Ginny shared looks, seemingly uneasy as Ness just shrugged, "It was a stressful time, he just wanted to see if I could defend myself to survive heading to Twoson. I _was_ just 12 at the time."

"America is _insane_."

"And proud of it."

"You shouldn't agree with it!"

Ness shrugged again as Selvis threw his hands up and resumed reading, completely done with the conversation at hand. As Ginny changed topics, talking about Ron joining the Qudditch team then scolding Ness for his insistent that Ron was suicidal for joining a team that played during Hurricane weather before asking Luna what she thought. Luna smartly stayed neutral as Ness joked some more about seeing Dorthey's house from the Wizard of Oz.

"He was real by the way." Selvis supplied, rolling his eyes as Ness looked at him in surprise then exclaimed, "That means the cannibal tree was real to!"

"No. Not it wasn't Earthbound."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"That's a terrible answer Selvis."

"It makes you shut up though."

"Not really-,"

"Oh hey! What are we going to do about our mail being read by the toad?" Selvis quickly asked, shooting him a look of triumphant when someone knocked on the door, startling everyone into standing up and looking at it, wands raised in case it was another Halloween prank or, just Umbridge.

Ness was about to suggest teleporting them all to the seventh-floor corridor when the door opened and revealed the Golden Trio. Harry looking nervous, Hermione looking certain of something and Ron just…looking like Ron. Perhaps he was neutral on the entire matter. Whatever the matter was for coming up to their club room was.

"Hello," Luna greeted, relaxing a little as Selvis glanced down at his wand, then back at the trio before haughtily huffing, "You had better be glad we didn't hex you to next Wednesday."

"Or sent you crumpling to the ground like rag dolls." Ness muttered, trying to tune out the danger bells ringing in his head at their appearance. The trio flinched but managed to recover as Hermione closed the door behind her and announced, "We're organizing a Defense Against the Dark Arts class!"

"Good for you guys." Ness drawled as Selvis looked skeptical, "And _how_ do you plan on doing that?" Selvis asked.

"Who's teaching?" Luna asked, elbowing Selvis a bit as the boy scowled and looked them over, trying to find a secret hint toward their plans.

"Harry is!" Hermione explained, ignoring Harry's nervous, "No I'm not!" as Ron mumbled back to him, "You're sort of the only one with enough experience at defensive magic after all."

Ness frowned a little, trying to feel sympathy toward Harry's plight but the headache drowned out any ounce of pity. "So, you're setting up a secret class. Great. Why are you telling us when we're most likely being tailed by Umbridge?"

The trio paled a little, but Hermione trucked on, "Simple, Harry's convinced that he wouldn't be a good teacher-,"

"I _wouldn't._ " Harry insisted, " _Ness_ would be a better choice!"

"Oh yea, let the boy suffering from nightmares, panic attacks and is convinced that magic is the devil teach a class of frightened young wizards." Ness deadpanned, "That will just go _great_."

"Not to mention Ness doesn't _have_ any magic." Selvis huffed, "All he'll do is teach people how to murder each other with a bat."

"Hey, it works. If you can't finish a spell then you can't kill someone, now can you?" Ness waved the collapsible bat in the air as Selvis shot him a glare.

"Anyway, just be the teacher Harry." Ginny said, "Sure, you may be terrible now, but you at least have your battle against Voldemort to back you up and experience. You'll learn how to get better at it later."

Harry cringed and muttered, "I didn't exactly do anything during that fight." trying not to glance at Ness who focused on his shoes, counting to twenty to block out the unpleasant memory.

"Plus, all Ness has going for him is the power of friendship." Selvis added, probably rolling his eyes, "And half the school is uneasy about him since he's a raving basket case."

"Wow. THANKS."

"Oh, you're welcome."

Ness made sure to kick Selvis's seat before he looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of something encouraging to say before gluing his mouth shut. He couldn't and moved onto the next best thing.

"So, where are you hosting the class? You can't use an actual classroom since Umbridge is a toad."

"Oh er…" Hermione flushed a little as Selvis crowed in half belief and half smugness at the genius Gryffindor's unusual lack of planning, "You didn't think about that?!" in delight and disbelief.

"Do you have a system to ensure that no one snitches to Umbridge? Club dues? An outline of what you want to teach?" Luna asked, looking a little excited as Hermione's blush got even brighter.

"A meeting place for all the hopeful students? Or were you just _planning_ on announcing it at Dinner?" Selvis questioned.

"We're meeting at the—mphh!" Hermione retorted, or tried to when Ginny and Ness tackled her, hands firmly over her mouth as they looked around. "What on ear-," Ron started when Selvis rolled his eyes, "Did we not say we were most likely being tailed by Umbridge?"

"How would you-,"

"Even know?" Ness finished, anger overriding his control for a moment, "Because the only way Kur and the other owls were attacked was because _someone_ knew ahead of time I was sending mail back to America during a freaking private conversation."

Ron frowned then paled as he realized the problem.

"Yea. Hooray for us." Ness deadpanned as Harry muttered, "This is worse than I thought…"

"Not as bad as you three _not having a club room."_ Selvis hissed, shooting Hermione a pointed look as she huffed, "We're getting to that part."

"Maybe Fred and George will know." Ginny offered, "They know pretty much everything about this castle."

"We'll see…" Harry muttered before he glanced at Ness with an unsure frown.

"Harry. Spit it out or face the wrath of my barely contained temper."

He flinched but did as told, "Would you er…come with us for the meeting?"

"Will it make you stop tip toeing around me like glass?" Ness retorted, closing his eyes as the warning bells got louder. Why were his PSI abilities freaking out over Harry? Or…was it about something else?

"Pretty hard not to do that when you have a panic attack for no-," Ron started when Ness flashed him a glare, cringing as his headache began to pulse and the room shook, "Go on. _Finish that sentence."_ He threatened, hating how out of control he was as Ron took a wary step back then yelped as Ginny forcibly shoved them out, "See you at Hogsmeade this weekend!" she stated, her voice a little strained before she turned to Ness.

Who was preparing to apologize for threatening her older brother when Luna gently grabbed his hand and hummed, "Let's go for a walk."

"Ah-,"

"Walk before I hex you." Selvis stated, shooting him a look as Luna dragged him away, somehow knowing were all of his calming spots were as she rambled on about horned worms and beetles which weren't actual beetles.

When it was time for dinner Luna looked at him and asked, "Better?"

"…Yea."

"Good."

"How did you-,"

"I've seen you just zoning out around here, so I figured you felt safe here since no other wizards were around." That didn't sound right but…the area _was_ oddly empty if he found himself wandering around without Ginny for a rare moment. Why was that?

"…Thanks."

"No problem, I did a bit of reading on PTSD to try and help." Luna paused then shot him a look, "That er…person you fought…he was really bad. Wasn't he."

"…He wasn't bad. He was powerful sure but…he was insane. Everything around him…"

"Alright, alright…breath." He blinked and found Luna embracing him in a tight hug, "Whatever happened. He's gone now."

"…No he's not. At least, I don't-,"

"By the decree of Cloud people. He's dead." he blinked then gave a small laugh at how serious Luna was. "Alright…but I think he…might…" he gestured around the castle as his throat tightened, a little relived to see that Luna understood and nodded before forcing him onto a different topic.

"You can gladly spill out all your worries once you've healed."

"Which will be never."

"No, it'll probably happen over Christmas break."

"Christmas—" He blinked then felt something inside of him grow warm. Perhaps with hope.

"Luna, you're a genius."

"I'm starting to believe it." Luna hummed as they walked into the dining room, ignoring the somewhat startled looks from Luna's housemates as they separated and headed to their own table. He could hold out. He could last until break. Then he could freely fret over his worries with people who understood his problem with ease and experience.

* * *

For most people, getting out of Hogwarts and into a safer, less haunted town with the promise of sweets, friendly outing and the chance to spend their burning gold or whatever currency wizards used was a Godsend.

For Ness, it was quickly turning into a nightmare as he left the castle and approached Hogsmeade. Everything just felt wrong, warning bells rang nonstop, his head felt like imploding while also exploding and his homesickness was horrendous.

Leaving him blanking out to count the days, hours, minutes and seconds until Christmas Break. If it wasn't for Luna and Ginny who quickly sensed he was seriously off he probably would have wandered off the path and gotten himself lost in the woods.

"What. Did the bogeyman come for you in the middle of the night?" Selvis taunted, looking a little worried as Ness rubbed his forehead for the 50th time.

"No…Just, feeling awful." Ness grumbled.

"Ever since we left the castle?" Ginny asked, gently pushing him around a corner as they sound of excited chatter rose up into the air, singling that they were close to Hogsmeade.

"Yea…Professor Kale mentioned that the castle felt different, and it does. It feels… peaceful." Selvis swallowed a snort of disbelief as Luna glanced back at the castle, the giant building a mere silhouette against the afternoon sky as it faded from view.

"I know, it's silly and sort of dumb given all the chaos that's been happening but…yea." Ness shrugged and shoved his hands into his rainbow pockets, "I feel sort of safe there."

Ginny looked like she was about to ask something—probably why he felt safe in the very place he despised—but changed her mind, instead saying, "Well, I want to head to Honey-dukes for some sweets before we have to meet up with Harry."

"Did he figure out a club location yet?" Sevlis asked, eyeing the Hog's Head bar with distain. Luna shook her head no before glancing at the Herbology shop—Dogweed and Deathcap- which was a little odd since Luna wasn't a very good potions student nor did she enjoy taking care of plants.

According to Luna, the only things that didn't die under her care were animals and people. Although that was probably because she watered the few plants she owned with potions and once, orange juice. Ness didn't understand why she had done it and Selvis had merely buried his face in a book, refusing to ask why.

"Oh wait!" Ness cringed at the sudden yell and swallowed a glower as he looked at Ginny, judging by her flinch and sudden apologetic smile he had failed to hide his abnormal irritation. "Sorry, I just remembered that Hogsmeade has a quill store."

Selvis snorted and teased, "What's wrong Weasly? Ran out of decent quills to use?" he was swiftly rewarded with a knuckle sandwich as Luna's eyes widened a bit, "Hold on, are you going to ask if…"

"Yes." Ginny simply answered, "And you're coming with me Selvis."

"What? Why!? I'm not buying you a new quill! Ask someone else!"

"You're _coming._ " Ginny repeated, flashing him a murderous glare and raising her wand a bit, daring him to try and weasel out of going. Selvis spluttered a bit before he scoffed and muttered, "Bloody hell." Before nodding in agreement.

"I'll be at the post office then." Ness glanced at the building with owls flying in and out of its open windows, "Maybe I can warn them to stop for a bit…"

"Do you have a letter already written up?" Ginny asked, a giant grin appearing when he shook his head no. He didn't trust that toad as far as he could throw her, what was stopping her from creating an absurd rule to do daily checks if he started to hint that he was writing letters to send using the post owls? Nothing. That's what.

"Good! I have something I want to mail to that Mystic Eye newsletter!"

"Mystic Informer, and should I be worried?"

"No."

Ness, Luna and Selvis exchanged looks before silently agreeing they should be worried before moving forward with their plans for the day. Selvis and Ginny to head into Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop while Luna and Ness walked to Tomes and Scrolls to look up any ways to legally combat Umbridge.

Or, find some magical creature to hex her with if they were roadblocked by the public opinion and the Ministry's attempt to shut them up. Or at least try to shut them up. He hadn't fought a police station's best men and influence adults warped by G… _Giygas's_ influence for nothing after all.

"Find anything?" Ness asked, combing the rows of dusty and forgotten books the best he could as Luna studied a fairy-tale book for kids about a blood thirsty Unicorn. "Not really, although a lot of these books are seriously dated."

"Great, so we don't have any new laws to use to our advantage."

"Maybe. After all, the Ministry is quite old and changing old laws could come with dire consequences."

Ness nodded in agreement as he picked up a book called 'The American Way of Wizardry' and studied it, a bit surprised to see a somewhat recent book about American wizards.

Wizards which no one seemed to mention or really know about for some reason. Perhaps he should look at it later, when he wasn't trying to find legal ways to get someone arrested.

"They have books for how to charm a broomstick to like you." Luna deadpanned, looking actually annoyed as she studied her row of books, "But not on how the Ministry works."

"Wait, I found one. But it's just about the army of departments they have." Ness flipped through the book in solid disbelief, "They have groups for all the departments and that's _still_ not enough to keep it all organized!"

"Britain supposedly has the largest ministry out of all of them…" Luna mused as Ness's shaky focus landed on a department simply known as the Department of Mysteries. "Hey Luna, know anything about the Department of Mysteries?"

"Only that they deal with cases the public shouldn't know about, magical enigmas and apparently have some sort of demon under lock and key."

"…Uh."

"I look for the answers no one looks for."

"Noted. Don't get yourself killed."

"Hmm…"

"Luna."

"No promises."

Ness face palmed but added the book to his shopping list before they resumed searching some more for law books before giving up for the day, paying for their things and heading to the post office where Ginny and Selvis were waiting.

"Well?" Selvis asked, looking a little flustered about something as Ginny drummed three letters against her side, "Find anything interesting?"

"Just that Luna loves to break the law." Ness deadpanned, "Also a book about American Wizards."

"I found a book about a Crimacorn." Luna offered, ignoring Selvis's look of sheer disbelief as Ness went to write his letter then tried to haggle with the post master for a cheaper price to send his letter to Onett. When that didn't work he asked to send it to Daalam in Chommo after editing his letter a bit.

"Who's in Daalam?" Ginny asked as the Post Master agreed and showed them to the owl selection. "Poo, he's a good friend of mine. Who hopefully remembers where my address is to tell my mom—wait, he has a phone." Ness scowled in slight bitterness, "Luckyyy…"

"It's a phone Earthbound. Get over it." Selvis deadpanned as he admired a pretty Great Grey Owl who seemed rather bored with their presence. "Phones save lives Selvis." Ness retorted, glancing at a Barn Owl who seemed to be daring him to try and use him. It was tempting to ask the bird what was wrong but…he didn't trust his powers not to go haywire and making funny faces at the bird to see its offended reaction was hilarious.

"Don't tease the owls Ness." Ginny scolded, attaching her letters to a dozing barn owl who quickly perked up and gave a small flap of their wings, eager to be helpful. "Fine Mom."

"Does that make Selvis the dad?" Luna asked, grinning as Selvis spluttered in disbelief and offense, "Lovegood!"

"You act like a dad."

"Shut it birdbrain!"

"Careful Selvis, you might offend Willow over here." Ness teased, snickering as 'Willow' the offended owl he had been 'talking to', tried to bite his finger before huffily stealing his letter as if to say 'Forget you! I have a job to do!" and flying after its friend.

"I like that owl." Ness admitted as they headed for the Boar's Head Inn, slightly dreading the large crowd of students that were going to be waiting for them.

"Huh…I thought the turnabout would be…"

"Bigger?" Ginny offered as Ness nodded in agreement and lead his friends around the grimy men and woman eyeing the large group of school kids inside the dimly lit and frankly quiet smelly bar.

"I wonder how many Slytherins are here…" Luna mused, blinking in surprise as Selvis coolly answered, "Ten," then explained, "We agreed that the other houses would _surely_ flock to Potter's little club and that the best choice to gain information and confirmation that we can be taught to teach ourselves defense spells would be to send representatives to scout out the area."

"Impressive." Was all Ginny could manage as Ness studied Selvis a little, wondering if the part of the reason behind such a small number of Slytherins was to avoid tarnishing their reputation or worse, getting kicked out before they could join.

Even though everyone was facing the same enemy, it wasn't going to be easy for them to overlook the things Slytherin had done to them. "Oh! There starting!" Ginny shushed, grimacing as Harry spotted Ness and shot him a pleading look, earning a mental groan from Ness who shook his head no. Sure, this was a _good_ idea. But this wasn't _his_ idea, which meant he could simply watch and let the chaos unfold without having to play damage control.

Harry's hopefully expression fell a little before Ginny shot him a look and mouthed, "Bad day." Before looking at Hermione who looked at Harry, clearly waiting for him to start.

"Wasn't this _her_ idea?" Selvis asked, looking a little grumpy before relaxing as Hermione started to explain herself. In a terrible manner.

"Er, hello everyone." Everyone pulled their attention away from Harry who almost fainted with relief, "Harry-," He, Ness, Selvis and Ginny threw her a sharp glare, prompting her to jump tracks, " _I_ had the idea to—er—start a Defense Against Dark Arts club to—ah—properly defend ourselves against this new threat."

"I wonder how long until Agatha gets annoyed." Selvis muttered, glancing around for the girl in question as Hermione went on, "A-and I don't mean that rubbish Umbridge is teaching us, _real_ defense magic."

"What about offensive magic?" someone asked—a girl with a pair of glasses and a stern expression on her face. Hermione looked a little startled as Selvis cringed in pity, "Ah, there she is."

"Who is she?" Luna asked studying the girl closely with a small frown. "Agatha Collenway—fifth year, house appointed potions master and a pretty good business woman thanks to the Collenway's countless generations of being a pristine potion ingredient suppler."

"And hearing Hermione stumble on is a waste of her important time." Ness grumbled, "This isn't good."

"Ah…her family's a rival with someone in Ravenclaw." Luna murmured as Agatha went on, "Defense is nice and all, but considering the fact that we have no clue what or who our opponents are and may have no way to properly disarm them if they jump us we'll need more than simple shields and hexes."

"Y-yes, that's true but-,"

"But?" Agatha pressed, looking a little irritated as a couple people recognized she was from Slytherin. She looked like she wanted to say more but was holding her tongue, something Selvis nodded in approval with. "She's usually ferocious when it comes to getting answers." He mumbled, "Has to be since she's going to inherit the business and make deals to receive certain ingredients."

"Looks like she's merely worried for Slytherin's well being then." Luna surmised as Hermione squared her shoulders and pressed on, "I was getting to that part Ms.?"

"Agatha Collenway." Agatha answered.

"Yes, offensive is going to be a key point but for now we're focusing on defense until we can find a rhythm and a safe way to practice it without alerting the teachers."

Placated, Agatha nodded in agreement and verbally stepped down, her job done for the moment. "Alerting the teachers?" someone asked—a Hufflepuff who Selvis quickly informed him was a Quidditch player who kept to themselves most of the time.

"Are you hinting that this is more than a way to get a good grade on the Defense Against Dark Arts O.W.L.S?" someone asked—Michael Corner a Ravenclaw according to Luna.

"Yes," Hermione braced herself before finishing, "Because we're not just learning for s-silly grades. We're learning because V-Voldemort is back."

Voldemort? Oh right, he was alive. Ness had completely forgotten the pale snake man in favor of piecing himself back to together mentally. Everyone but the Golden Trio and his friends reacted in fear, cups filled with Butterbeer dropping onto tables and sometimes the floor, people flinching at the name, some sucking in huge breaths of air through their teeth and others glancing at Selvis as if for confirmation.

Although that made sense given how obviously close he was to Ness. His housemates' faces dropped with dread as he gave a solemn nod and subtly gestured toward Ness's glaring rainbow hoodie. As if to remind them that _someone_ was behind Ness's sudden change in personality.

"H-hold on!" Someone protested—a Hufflepuff boy—"Where's your proof?" his protest strengthen some of the other students who quickly relaxed in the realization that Hermione _had_ no proof. Only, it was clear to the Slytherins and Ravenclaws—the most logical and cunning houses that this was the truth.

"Isn't it obvious?" someone spoke up, "Why else would Barty Crouch Jr. and that rat-tailed guy start playing for favorites for the Dark Lord?"

A low murmur of agreement—from said logical and cunning houses rose up in the air— "They wouldn't be lifting a finger if they knew Vo—You know who wasn't coming back for good." A Ravenclaw added, looking sick as the boy adjusted his glasses-as if to calm himself before he pressed on "It's the only reason, the only reason that makes sense behind Earthbound and Potter's disheveled appearance at the end of the Triwizard cup and the Ministry's sudden military attempt to control our studies."

"We know too much." Luna added, "We've _uncovered_ to much. It'll only be a matter of time before we'll be attacked by not _only_ Voldemort but _also_ the Ministry."

"With wands instead of underhanded tricks since two students claimed to have seen him in the flesh." Ness finished, allowing his probably unsettling gaze sweep across the group as they looked at him. Tensing as they realized he was right— _they_ were right. Hogwarts wasn't safe, and they had two major enemies to prepare for.

With this heavy thought looming on their minds Hermione took control of the room, "So, while the plan for meetings is still in development, yes we don't have room figured out yet—" she and Selvis traded glares "— _But_ we have a plan to ensure that this is only between the people who _want_ to learn how to defend themselves, who _want_ to be prepared for the future."

Which was pretty much everyone at this point. But who could blame them? The crowd reluctantly listened to Hermione's shoddy but somewhat hopeful plan of having Harry teach them since he was the best in Defense Against Dark Arts (Well, the only one in their year who had PASSED DADA with flying colors under an actually _good_ teacher thus far) and since he had been in battle combat unlike the other students.

Harry stiffened a bit and tried his hardest not to look at Ness who was wondering if it was safe for him to leave. "Hold on, why can't _Earthbound_ teach us?" Ah, it wasn't safe. He looked up to find a collection of eyes studying him intently, "Didn't he save America or wherever he lived from a powerful wizard?" the person—a Ravenclaw girl who looked Asian asked.

"Yea, but that was _before_ I found out I was a wizard." Ness replied, struggling to keep his patience, "And I had _friends_ who were headstrong and ready to duke it out with our fists if our weapons didn't work."

"Plus, Ness is _terrible_ with a wand." Ginny added, "There's a reason why he used a bat in the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

A couple murmurs of, "I thought it was just an act." And "So…it wasn't just him showing off his rubbish sport." Floated into the air as Ness shoved his hands into his pockets, glaring away and landing on a sturdy wall by a wizard with glasses—wait a second…did…did he know that wizard? He seemed familiar.

Before he could take a closer look, the man got up, dropped some wizard money on the table and walked away, content with…whatever he had heard or seen. Forcing Ness to focus on Hermione who was having a discussion with Agatha and a Ravenclaw about how everything would work, the meetings, the dates, the means of commutation, possible interruptions thanks to after school activities. The works.

And it was becoming quite clear that Hermione's first and main focus had been ensuring that people _believed_ them and _showed interest_ in her idea.

"She's getting ripped apart." Ness grumbled as Selvis huffed, "Serves her right in a way." Earning a sharp jab from Ginny as Ness decided to leave before his headache exploded into a migraine. "I'm heading back." He mumbled, nudging Ginny as Luna began offering suggestions, "I can't take this headache anymore."

"Alright…but I better find you in your bed when we get back." Ginny replied, giving him a motherly glare as he nodded and left the bar. Closing his eyes as the colors around him began to shift and warp into shades of sliver and neon pink, like he was entering a battle and his focus was just on the opponent, blocking everything out to ensue he didn't get distracted by random background objects or events in the middle of the fight.

 _"Why. Me?"_ Ness demanded as he stumbled across the bridge, wishing for an answer to relieve the headache—the stress— _to stop the pain._

 _"Ehehe…"_ his eyes flew open, his heart skipping a beat as he spotted something small and tiny slip past the giant castle doors leading into the Hellsworth— _Hogswart ._

"…Am I drunk?" Ness wondered, his legs already moving into a slow jog then a sprint as he pushed the doors open, surprised at his sudden ability of stealth when they doors didn't slam into the wall. _"Eheheh…"_ the being—the _toy_ turned a corner that lead up to the stairwell, unfazed by Ness chasing after it or the possibility of teachers lurking around the oddly quiet castle.

Had something happened to spook everyone into their dorms? If so, what? Although perhaps he should be asking what _hadn't_ scared everyone into hiding given how the walls had been bleeding dye colored water the day before.

"Get back here!" Ness hissed as he turned onto the seventh-floor corridor, feeling his paranoia of the toy being a PSI powered monster fading away as a soothing aura surrounded him.

Pulling the headache away from his eyes as he slumped against a wall, his vision spinning from the sudden change in mood and atmosphere.

"Can someone PLEASE explain what's going on?" Ness grumbled, bitterly remembering that _no one_ could explain. Not until Christmas break. He was stuck here, dealing with this mess on his own with no chance to relax and fix his dangerously low PSI levels—

"Hey!" Ness clumsily landed on his hands, hissing in pain as his right hand throbbed in protest as he found himself looking up at a doorway that had _not_ been behind him a few moments ago and _certainly_ left unlocked.

"Great! Now the castle's trying to mess with me-," Ness started, grumpily getting up and preparing to beat the door with his bat when he found himself looking into a cozy room covered with butterfly themed pillows, stuffed animals, baseball decorations and snacks. _Honest to god American snacks._

"…Uh…Are you trying to win me over castle? If so, then uh…it's sort of working." Closing the door behind him Ness sat down on a couch, surprised to feel how cozy and soft it felt as he sank into the plush cushions.

"Even though I'm STILL mad at you—wait, are those comic books?" Oh my god they were! They had comic books about Superman, Batman, The Adventures of One Time man—A popular comic book series in Onett of course—and Sonic the Hedgehog!

"Okay. You win this round." Ness conceded, grabbing a blanket to create a personal nest of comfort as he got lost in goofy and seriously awesome adventures as he snacked on small Skip Sandwiches and leaned against a giant teddy bear.

He might have forgotten to keep an eye on the clock but that wasn't _too_ important, Doctor Marie had recommended he tried to create a small personal space for himself to decompress in peace and he was happily following that advice.

Not even realizing that-A. He had spent the night in the cozy room before remembering he had school, B. The door had magically appeared and then disappeared as he stepped outside to make a mental note of where the room was before he teleported onto his bed to change clothes and C. He never caught that odd toy who had led him to the seventh floor.

All he could think about was going back to that room during break as his headache slowly returned and avoiding Ginny's wraith when she caught him.

" _Ness."_ Which was now. "I can explain!" he managed as Ginny shot him a murderous glare, "I can though." He squeaked, managing a nervous grin as Ginny merely raised an eyebrow, prompting him to sheepishly mumble, "It's a bit better if I show you it."

"You better." Ginny hissed, her eyes darting to Umbridge who looked quite smug about something, "She somehow overheard our conversation at the bar and outlawed the idea."

"No duh, we were pretty-," oh wait. She hadn't been there. "She has spies everyone." Ness murmured, his headache moving up in levels of pain as he remembered that familiar wizard and—and allowed his eyes to wander on Professor Kale who was eating breakfast in a stoic manner, his glasses slipping down his face a bit before he pushed them back up his nose.

His heart sank at the very thought—the very _idea_ that Kale had snitched them out. "Ginny. I think he-," he trailed off as Ginny followed his gaze and stiffened, "Ness, no. He wouldn't—you said he was like—you know!" Ginny insisted as Ness mumbled, "He could do it. If he was being blackmailed."

"Black-,"

"Ginny, he has a subscription to Mystic Informer. What if…" he pushed passed the lump in his throat and mental mantra of, _"I'll never be safe, I'll never be safe."_ And whispered, "What if she threatened to reveal him as a national threat since he's a Muggleborn Squib from America?"

The color drained from Ginny's face as it sank in. Umbridge _could_ do that. What couldn't she do? She could do _anything_ without the fear of legal repercussions since _she_ was going to be the _savior_ of the wizarding world.

 _"I'll never be safe."_ Echoed in his mind as he walked passed the teacher's table, his hand burning with phantom pain and hate as Umbridge shot him and Harry a bright, smug grin.

 _"I'll never be safe."_ T…true but… he glanced at the Slytherins walking behind them, mumbling and whispering to one another as they headed to potions, his heart twisting with dread and revolution. Was Umbridge _that_ determent to crush his and Harry's spirits to silence the truth? Would she _really_ go so far to prevent her own housemates, her possible _teammates_ from being able to protect themselves?

The answer was a big, fat. "Yes." She _would_ do that. She _would_ use her own housemates from past and present _just_ to further her own ideals, not even caring about the dangers from throwing them aside or not believing they were caught up in the whirlwind of fear gripping the castle with a bloodied claw.

She would. And he _hated_ that. Umbridge was just a Porky 2.0. Only with connections and a sickeningly sweet smile to hide her ideals and schemes.

He had to stop this. _They_ had to stop this. Mark his words. Professor Kale's prediction was going to come true. With an explosion of rebellious rock and roll blasted from all sides.

"So…this is where you disappeared to?" Luna asked, looking around Ness's new hide away as the boy in question sat on the couch, carefully writing down a message with his left hand—the phantom pains too much to bear trying to write it down with his right—

"Yup. This place is awesome."

"And horrific." Selvis stated, shuddering as he poked a doll with a faded smile and dirty dress with his wand, "Why does this place even _exist?_ "

"Who knows? I'm just glad I can relax and think for once." Ness replied, scowling when he messed up the r in his message and moved to grab a pen. The cool metal pushing away the bad memories of using a quill as he relunctly switched back to his right hand.

"How did you even find this place?" Ginny asked, studying an issue of Superman with slight curiosity.

"I followed a living toy—," he trailed off before muttering, "I'll find it later." And resuming his explanation, "Stopped in front of the hallway to get used to the sudden feeling of safety and fell into the room."

"Which just magically appeared to grant you a safe haven." Selvis deadpanned, "Unbelievable-," a knock suddenly cut him off as they looked at the door in surprise.

"Ness. Did you…" Ginny started when Ness shook his head no, "No one knows were we are, well, no one we trust and know-,"

The door opened, revealing a surprised Harry, "How did you-," he started when Selvis pulled him into the room, "Ness found it first. Deal with it." He answered folding his arms as Harry blinked and looked at him. "How do you know about the Room of Requirement?"

Ness frowned, not understanding the odd name. "Room of what now? I just fell in here."

"You what?"

Ness shrugged and resumed writing, "Fell in, I was chasing something, got overwhelmed and—boom! Magical room of calmness!" Harry looked at him in disbelief before he shook his head, "Er, right. Do you think we could use this room for the DA club?"

"Sure. Just give me a heads up to I can lurk in the corner."

"You-,"'

"Harry. I have very few places which make me feel human. Let me have those places." Harry closed his mouth and looked to Ginny for help, she could only shrug her shoulders as Ness resumed his writing.

"So er, what are you writing?" Harry asked, gingerly stepping into the room and studying the army of cozy items around him.

"A warning." Ness replied gingerly showing off the one poster he felt proud of. "Oh my god." Selvis breathed before he tackled Ness in a hug, "Look at you! You're turning into a proper snake!"

"Wha—Selvis!"

"Look Ginny! He's _plotting politics!"_ Selvis squealed, laughing as Harry took the poster and read it aloud.

"As you may know, Umbridge seems to have a habit of knowing every personal plan and attempt to defend ourselves that Harry and sometimes Ness who really just wants peace and quiet that I—Ness who is really sick and tired of this—felt that the attack on Harry's and Selvis's owls that had been used to send personal information might expand to attacking those who are in constant contact with us or worse. Attacking those she believes untrustworthy to her cause of snuffing out the truth.

"The truth that Hogwarts is no longer safe and that our faith in the Ministry is a lie given how many times they have failed us thanks to trying to stay ignorant to the real problem. Be careful with your mail, warn parents and close friends from outside of school that your letters are being read. From, Ness Earthbound who seriously wishes that we can just protest the toad out of school."

"Ingenious." Selvis fake sobbed as Ness laughed and tried to push him away, "I just wanted to warn the others Selvis!"

"By being a scheming snake!"

"Dude!"

"W…what gave you this idea?" Harry asked, turning the poster over in amazement.

"Umbridge." Ness deadpanned, "If she isn't afraid to remove any chance of teaching ourselves self defense for _everyone._ Then what's stopping her from screwing everyone over to ensure that the truth doesn't get out. She seems like the type of person to go against her own house."

"She's gladly burn it down." Selvis darkly muttered his mood whip lashing as Luna picked up a finished poster and rolled it up, "I'll hang it up on the common board."

"Same." Selvis offered.

"I'll bribe Cedric. Or break into Hufflepuff-,"

"Ness. Bribe Cedric." Ness huffed but nodded under Ginny's stern glare, "Fine _mom_."

"Is Selvis the-,"

" _Lovegood!"_ Selvis snapped, flushing an angry red as Luna merely smile and hummed, "It's an honest question."

Harry just watched as Selvis grabbed a pillow and threw it a Luna who ducked with a sharp giggle as it hit Ness in the face, prompting him to tackle Selvis with a pillow as the boy screamed and tried to defend himself. "So er…. I'm just going to tell Hermione about this room and-," Harry flinched as a unruly pillow smacked him in the face, earning a brief mutter of, "Right then." Before he left the four to dissolve into a war of pillow fight.

Which turned into a magical pillow fight then a PSI pillow fight as Ness used Paralysis Alpha on Ginny to score a free hit, "Really?!" she demanded, glowering at him as Selvis yelled, "Yes! I'm finally not the only one stunned!" and got paralyzed just because.

They may have ganged up on Ness to beat him into a pulp before they headed for bed. And to break into the Hufflepuff common room before turning in for the night. (Thanks, Selvis for knowing so many secrets about the school!)

* * *

This was a terrible idea. Well no. This was a good idea. Harry just wished that _he_ wasn't the teacher who was going to be teaching everyone defense spells. That was their first lesson, a simple Protago and Flipendo practice to see where everyone stood in the room now decorated to teach large groups of students with magic.

Of course, he, Hermione and Ron could safely say they did _not_ expect the class to be evenly split between all four houses. Harry had suspected a _couple_ Slytherins would show up thanks to Ness and his friends speaking up but enough to have an even sized class of almost forty students?

He hadn't been expecting that. He _also_ didn't expect _Selvis,_ _Luna, another Slytherin girl and Cedric_ to step up in _helping_ him organize everything after he shakily announced his plan of splitting up into pairs, one person to practice Protego and the other to practice Flippendo before switching off after a bit.

"Is this a dream?" Hermione mumbled as Selvis organized the Slythrins in his year group as the older Slytherin—Corrinway he believed dealt with the ones who didn't completely trust his status as a teacher, occasionally shooting them looks to behave as Cedric handled his house who were upset at the large amount of Slytherins in the class.

Luna just dreamily provoked her house into behaving and being 'better' than their common enemy while Ginny just shot Harry imploring looks, silently ordering him to mingle with the other houses to encourage and give them pointers.

"Try and hold your wand firm when you cast Protego." Harry advised, easing into his role as a teacher as he adjusted a 3rd year Ravenclaw wand hand, "You want to ensure that nothing gets through your shield, and you can only ensure that if you have a firm grip on your wand when you cast the spell."

"R-right." The girl adjusted her grip on her wand as Selvis studied her opponent, a second year Slytherin who seemed to be trying to mimic the older Slytherins almost lazy and confident cries of, "Protego!" or, "Flipendo!" as they flicked or stabbed the air with their wand.

Performing the spell with near perfection. It was a bit annoying to see them excel much faster than the other houses, but Harry could begrudgingly admit it was a good thing so the few who were having trouble could observe their motions and wand gestures and mimic it, giving him, Hermione and Ron a bit of a breather since there were so many students to work with when their self-appointed house teachers couldn't help them at the moment.

Harry was torn between being relieved and disappointed when it was time for class to end. Once the class was over people would have an opportunity to speak to Harry one-on-one. Harry warned them to be careful when leaving and to try and practice Flippendo and Protego if possible.

"We'll be working on that for a bit before moving onto anti jinxes and counter spells before Christmas Break. Any questions?" he announced, a lump of dread forming at the question obviously brewing on everyone's mind as he tried _hard_ not to look at the small space the Slytherins' had carved out for themselves in the crowd of students.

A couple hands rose up, eager and ready to ask something as Harry picked the one closest to him—Trudy Galston a fifth year Hufflepuff. She seemed a little nervous as she glanced to the group of Slytherins before stating her questions, "What's stopping anyone from ratting us—The Deterrence Aegis out? I wasn't here for the first meeting."

"We have our ways." Hermione assured her. She was going around, collecting names and handing them bewitched coins to people who would be taking this club—no, _course_ seriously in the future and coming back daily.

"What kind of ways?" a Ravenclaw asked, his gaze landing on Selvis and Corrinway who were the ringleader for the Slytherins, "Will they be enough to protect us all from _backstabbers?"_

And _that_ was the question he had been dreading. Even if he had been wondering the same thing as well, Slytherins didn't have a track record for being on the same side for very long. At least not when they didn't have something in it for them.

"How cute, the birdie's showings its talons." A Slytherin snickered as a boy with a messy tie but sharp eyes stepped forward. "Look around birdbrain, do you _honestly_ think we're in a position to waste such a valuable and free resource of protection?"

"Hasn't stopped you lot before." A Gryffindor—Carl Hopkins pointed out with a bitter scowl.

"And being threatened with evicted from the school hasn't stopped you lot from running head first into trouble and screwing everyone over," someone else retorted.

A couple eyes landed on Harry who snapped out of his daze to try and calm the situation. "Now hold on, t-there right, they're in no position to betray us since we have no idea-," he got steamrolled by a Gryffindor snapping, "Well maybe if you lot would stop pulling underhanded tricks to win we wouldn't _need_ to doubt you!"

"Oh, that's _rich_ coming from the house with _two_ champions in the Tri-Wizard tournament." A Hufflepuff bitterly mocked.

"Actually, the number of underhanded tricks played by the Slytherins only increased when Harry joined. Before it was pure skill and taking advantage of your emotional states." A sixth year Ravenclaw calmly pointed out.

"Emotional states!?" That was the Hufflepuffs,

"Not our fault that _Potter and crew_ feels the need to be the hero every _dam-,"_ That was the Slytherins before they were cut off,

"The facts don't lie." From of course, the Ravenclaws.

It spiraled out of control from there, everyone being swept up in the argument as each house bared their mascots fangs and claws, or lack of claws given the Slytherins' snake symbol. Luna and Cedric tried to smack some sense into their house as Selvis sided with his house.

Ginny went all around trying to point out that _they all_ needed help in this situation as Ron and Harry shared dumbfounded looks, not sure what to do or where to stand in this messy argument.

Hermione was just…muttering, glancing at her wand every now and then as if she wanted to create a loud distraction but didn't want to give the Slytherins a reason to claim assault and defend themselves.

Which wouldn't be good since Slytherins seemed to prefer jinxes and hexes and the Ravenclaws would just pull out some experimental spell to screw everyone over.

Harry moved to yell at everyone to shut up, to try and take order back as he realized how everyone was leaning toward blast first talk later when something slammed open. Startling everyone into fearfully looking toward the door before blinking in surprise since it was still closed.

So, what had made such a loud, wooden bang-? "Ness. Have you been hiding in the closet this entire time?" everyone turned their gaze to Luna who was looking at a closet, one that had been pushed against the wall to make room for the large class and forgotten until they needed to put away pillows and padded rugs for those who performed the knock back jinx with a bit more force than necessary.

Indeed, Ness was in the closet, his dull eyes glowing with an eerie calm glint of annoyance as he closed a Gameboy that had probably appeared out of nowhere since if Harry recalled correctly the barrier had destroyed the wiring on the train ride to Hogwarts.

"Well, no one said I had to _leave_ when class started." Ness replied, giving a small shrug as Selvis muttered something then laughed in disbelief.

"He has a point." Ginny offered, glancing at Hermione who looked ready to say something as the boy climbed out of the closet and stretched. "You guys. Are all idiots."

A couple people—Ravenclaws mostly—bristled and moved to say something when Ness held up a finger, "Here we are, stuck facing not one, not two, but _three_ powerful, untouchable enemies and you guys are all squabbling over what house did what."

"Well the Slytherins-," A Hufflepuff started when Ness cut him off, "Have a lot more access to resources than everyone else in this entire room and yet here they are. A whole group of them learning how to defend themselves from a person they all either hate or find annoying." A fog of silence enveloped them all as they took that in, sheepishly remembering that almost _all_ Slytherins were rich kids with a lot of politic, cunning power on their side.

"You guys are all here because you _can't_ learn how to defend yourselves without help or _want_ someone to instruct you, so you don't blow something up. But the Slytherins? There here because they _want_ to be and understand that they'll need allies in the future."

Harry flinched as Ness quickly added, "And don't start fussing over them using you guys to protect themselves, we _all_ need allies _inside_ this school. Something they don't have given their track record and even bias of everyone hating them for growing up into villains and them hating Muggleborns."

Satisfied that everyone had gotten the main message, Ness smiled, saying, "Besides, think of this as a learning experience. You guys could swap potion recipes to create defensive gear or figure out ways to kick Umbridge off her high horse."

"Better idea, we kick her off a cliff." Selvis offered, a maniacal grin on his face as everyone gave small, unsure nods of agreement then tried to muffle surprised snorts of laughter as Selvis darkly added, "She must _pay_ for injuring Kur."

A couple, "Here-heres!" Rose up into the air, courtesy of the Hufflepuff students as Hermione resumed handing out coins and collecting signatures before allowing everyone to leave.

"The next meeting date will show up on the back of the coin, so keep it with you at all times if possible!" Hermione yelled, looking quite pleased with herself as a couple 3rd year Ravenclaws looked at the coin in surprise then put their heads together to form a plan to improve it.

"Well! I'd say that went pretty well," Hermione stated, looking pleased with herself as the stragglers—Ginny, Selvis, Luna, sort of Ness, Ron, Harry and herself cleaned up the room before turning in for the night.

"Define _well_." Ron grumbled, working with Luna to neatly cram the pillows back into the closet.

"No one died." Ness offered, happily nudging a pile of dirt with his foot as he played his logic defying Gameboy.

"Yea, but a fist fight nearly broke out." Harry pointed out while rolling up a rug. A small part of himself was blaming himself for letting that happen, for getting swept up in the obvious questions of Slytherin's trust and prejudice but a larger part was blaming himself for not being a better leader and messing up his chance by stammering himself into silence.

"Barely." Selvis snorted, "What self-respecting Slytherin would resort to muggle-,"

"Selvis." Ginny warned, shooting the Slytherin a look as Selvis huffily corrected himself, " _Peasant_ fighting styles? That would be the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs."

Ron opened his mouth to retort when Luna quickly hummed, "He has a point, Ravenclaws would be whipping out spells and counter jinxes if it came to fight."

"So, would Gryffindor." Harry tried to point out when Ginny wearily deadpanned, "Right, so that's why we lions have a track record of resorting to fists first if we're close enough to the person who ticked us off, right?"

"Can we just say that _everyone_ was ready to physically hurt someone?" Ness asked, not bothering to look up from his screen as he nudged the dirt into a corner, "Tensions are high, people are scared, and we don't need pointless squabbling about who's house did what."

"Ness has a point." Hermione pointed out, glancing up from her self-appointed task of reviewing every name on her list, "Everyone was out for blood, that Slytherin boy tried to rightfully defend himself-," Ron and Harry suppressed an automatic eye roll or a snort, "Ravenclaw went to undermine it and the Slytherins got defensive and went on the attack."

"Ah, so you _are_ smart—Ow! Ginny!" Selvis rubbed his bruised arm as Ness closed his Gameboy and moved to usher the Slytherin boy outside, mumbling something about taking a quick walk around the school before heading to bed.

They watched as the door closed before resuming their conversation, a small seed of guilt forming at the relief of not having Selvis in the room. "I still say the meeting went well though." Hermione muttered once they finished cleaning up the room and were preparing to leave once Harry gave the clear that Filch or Umbridge weren't lurking in the shadows.

"Of course, you do." Ron grumbled, "Even though we nearly had a blood bath on our hands."

"You are so pessimist, Ron." Ginny huffed, giving her older brother a quick jab and shooting him a look, "The only reason why the fight even happened was because of everyone's prejudice and beliefs being forced to work in the same room."

"It's the first meeting." Luna added, seeming a bit serious as she tapped her rainbow-colored nails against one another in an idly fashion, "Once everyone feels safe enough to look past the houses everyone's in they'll stop being arguments."

Harry forced a small nod before changing the subject, "We can leave, although you should be careful Luna, Filch is lurking around Ravenclaw tower."

"No problem." Luna hummed, stepping outside as the Gryffindors headed up to the dorm in silence. Harry deeply feeling worried about the arguments not breaking out. It had been proven many times before that putting a Lion and a Snake in the same room was a terrible idea, and even with this grand wide threat looming over them. What was stopping the Slytherins from defending themselves and taking a chance with Umbridge's protection? Nothing. That's what.

Even though the sight of every house warily studying Umbridge at breakfast was welcoming, it just added more doubt to Harry's growing thoughts.

* * *

 **All hail Ness's logic defying Gameboy! Even though I sort of forgot how I made that work... oops.**

 **Anyway, since Chuggaconroy's been doing an Earthbound let's play I've been learning a _bunch_ of things about Earthbound that I didn't know about. Like the fact that healing PP is _super_ hard in the middle of battle since there's barely any PP heal items but made a bit easier if your walking around dungeons thanks to magical butterflies, that Jeff is actually shy and timid (I thought he was unintentionally aloof given how smart he was and his connections to a famous scientist.), how people could use PSI if they were influenced by Giygas and just how serious it all is.**

 **having played traditional themed rpgs' having monsters wander around stirring up trouble in a modern world with people having no clue how to handle it makes the mission of stopping Giygas feel a lot more scary and important since it's now implied that the hero is the ONLY capable person with the skills needed to save the day. Which is the complete opposite in most rpgs since it's usually, everyone CAN try and stop the bad guy since they have skills and powers, but they all lack the correct information to do it.  
**

 **That aside, thanks for the reviews! :D**

 **M1nhTre37- Sadly, until he can head home for break he's going to have to settle with the magical room of no magic allowed. Which has comic books.  
**

 **HelenTheMoon- He was actually threatening to put them on if his awesome glasses effect didn't work. But yea, Umbridge was in for a world of hurt if she went on. Preferably in the form of her backing up into a wall after Kale faked a punch to her face. :)  
**

 **Ed the guest- Yay! Selvis isn't annoying! I was sort of worried about that since I originally created him to be the exposition guy to handle how Ness could learn about Harry's problems and story plot without needing to stick like glue to him until I got comfortable with writing Ness and Harry.**


	33. Chapter 33 One Step Back, Two Forward

Even though Professor Kale's prediction of- _"Umbridge, A teacher of none shall soon get her comeuppance when the holes she poked form as one before Hallows' eve."_ Hadn't seemingly come true to mere by standers, (Placing a giant, ugly toad like smile on the beast in pink's face when Halloween passed with little fanfare.)

It was clear that _something_ had changed a little despite the upcoming Quidditch game of Gryffindor and Slytherin making the usual tense air between the two houses sky high.

Ravenclaws and Slytherins were heard arguing or bickering about some potion or historical figure in magical history and lore, which most people would write up as the two usually neutral houses of brain and smarts finally feeling a bit bolder to have semi private but oddly loud arguments or battles of wits in public spaces.

But according to Selvis and Luna it was because a couple Slytherins and Ravenclaws realized that the other party was good for having logical debates with proof. Something they only did with their own house and didn't dare drag the Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs in since they were a bit more 'emotional' in planning or fell a bit short for their standers.

The loud 'arguments' were merely debating with both sides happily heated to prove the other wrong or prove a different point. Hufflepuffs were actively seeking out Gryffindors to have debates of their own with or for some friendly chatting since they shared classes with them a lot more frequently than Slytherin and Ravenclaw students did.

Granted, the Gryffindors would probably never get on slightly better terms with Slytherins given their long and almost bloody history but Ness wasn't expecting miracles to happen in a month after all. And he doubted they would make up over this.

Not when there was going to be careful planning and underhanded tricks to undermine Umbridge and the Ministry to open everyone's eyes that they were all in danger and needed to come together. Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were people-persons who would work together to ensure everyone's safety, which they didn't need now.

But for now, the small changes that _were_ happening were good. Even if Ness was convinced the small changes would go away once the Quidditch match of Slytherin versus Gryffindor happened. He knew how intense sports matches could get. He'd seen the reports and news clips of fans from other teams having bloody brawls or doing the dumbest things ever before and after games.

And it was a no brainer that everyone was pumped for the first game of the season since on the big day Ness was greeted to a sea of red and gold choking a small selection of green and sliver.

"Dang…I feel like grabbing a Slytherin scarf just to help them out." Ness noted, rolling his eyes as a couple Gryffindors shot him looks of horror for the very idea. Then again, the Slytherins looked content with their badges reading—Weasley is our King—that didn't sound very promising for today's game.

"Well…a lot of people hate Umbridge." Ginny pointed out, looking a little torn as she tapped a Gryffindor themed bracelet she had gotten from a knit happy Ravenclaw. "And she _was_ a Slytherin."

"A toxic one." Ness grumbled, noticing a tactical glint in the toad's eyes as she ate her breakfast. Hinting that they would be dealing with more than just school sports drama if she had her way.

Ginny nodded in agreement and resumed eating, only stopping when Luna proudly walked by wearing an array of sliver and red. Purposely mixing the colors of Gryffindor and Slytherin to show that she supported both and didn't care what anyone else thought. A couple Quidditch players looked startled by the bold display but didn't say anything as she walked toward her table.

It was sort of nice to see a couple Ravenclaws steal a couple pure sliver bracelets off from Luna.

A sign usually saw as cruel or mean given Luna's status among her brethren, but each Ravenclaw that did it purposely flashed their simple bracelet to the Slytherins, as if to say 'you might be the better option' since there was no way they could outright say they wanted Slytherin to win or wanted them to put up a good fight.

Not with Umbridge getting suspicious and breathing down all their necks.

Hufflepuff students stole some as well, although it was mostly Gryffindor colors since they were still uneasy with the Slytherins but again, it was nice to see.

"Good luck." Ness offered as the Quidditch teams stood up almost as one and filled out to the stadium to prepare. "We'll need it." Ron muttered, looking a bit grim as Harry and George patted him on his shoulder, silently telling him to cheer up.

"I completely forgot that Ron is now playing Quidditch." Ness admitted, grinning when Ginny shot him a look, "Of course you would. You're still fussing about hurricane weather!"

"Not my fault this sport is insane."

Ginny rolled her eyes and resumed eating breakfast. The walk to the stadium was filled with the thankfully normal, brisk winds of November and the smell of fall leaves lingering in the air. Luna was still wearing an overabundance of red and sliver while Selvis was studying the clouds.

Barely paying attention to the path in front of him and Ness playfully teased Ginny about there being a freak hurricane. "Selvis! Please tell Ness that this is _not_ hurricane weather!" Ginny finally pleaded, throwing him a hopeful look as Selvis snapped out of his daze.

"Hmm? Oh, Ness stop being an American idiot."

"Hey! I didn't know you listened to music!" Selvis blinked then looked at him in disbelief, "You have a _song_ called _American Idiot?"_

"Yup! It's pretty good."

"What is _wrong_ with your country!?"

"Apparently, everything!" Ness replied, grinning as Selvis buried his face in his hands while Luna hummed, "You walked right into that."

"Oh, shut up walking billboard." Was Selvis's reply, earning a round of good hearted laughter before they stepped into the stands, prompting Selvis to abruptly stop and look at Ginny, "Try not to get _too_ offended."

Prompting her to frown, "What would I get offended about?"

Selvis just gave an uneasy, "You'll see." Before he moved forward, leading them to the lowest bench of the Hufflepuff stands since they doubted the Gryffindors or Slytherins would be pleased to see a mix of houses in their stands. Not when the tension tangible in the air as Lee Jordon started to talk and comment on the weather.

"Why couldn't we get a _different_ loud mouth idiot." Selvis bemoaned, "I would even take Ness!"

"No, you wouldn't. I'd just say stuff about people on brooms."

Selvis threw him a look before throwing his hands up, "Fine, I'd take _Ginny_ and _her_ lackluster amount of Qui-,"

"Selvis I play Quidditch with my brothers at home. I know lot more than you do."

"Fine, _Luna-,_ "

"I read books." Luna interrupted, grinning as Selvis gave up and folded his arms with his usual huff of annoyance. Soon, the two teams stepped out into the cold November sun from their locker room. Electing deafening cheers from everyone as Ness leaned back and studied the sky before pulling out his logic defying Gameboy to play some Pokémon Leaf-Green.

He wasn't a fan of Quidditch. It was nice to look at, but he'd rather be at a baseball game or just chilling in the library waiting for his friends' cliff notes of what happened. That's pretty much what he did during his first year of 'school' if Ginny didn't drag him outside to watch.

 _"Maybe I should have brought a book to read…"_ Ness thought as the teams kicked off in a blur of red and green and shot into the sky and his Eevee tackled a wild Meowth. _"Nah…Selvis or Ginny would steal it from me and force me to watch…I wonder if this how Dad felt when he took me to official games. Tracy probably felt it as well-,"_

A loud chorus of song filled the air, prompting Ness to look up from the dimly lit screen and see Harry just floating in place, watching Ron who was growing incredibly flustered about something as he moved to throw the ball into one of the many giant hoops blocked by a bulky Slytherin Goal Keeper.

"What's going on?" Ginny shot him an incredulous look and pointed to the Slytherin side of the stands, the chorus of song downgrading into lyrics once he paid attention.

"Ah, good old peer pressure." Ness realized, flinching as Ginny elbowed him for his easy-going smile, "This is serious Ness! There verbally harassing him!"

"But it's sort of true." Selvis muttered, inching away from Ginny as she shot him a glare. "It's sort of catchy…Didn't know snakes could sing." Luna mused, but thankfully she looked a little uneasy at the lyrics of 'Weasley is our King' to avoid Ginny's wrath.

"Why didn't you tell me they were planning this?!" Ginny demanded, shooting daggers at Selvis who cringed but managed a small shrug, "Since it would have made it worse. Besides, I asked you not to get _too_ offended."

"Ginny chill," Ness tried, flinching as she turned her glare on him, "Yes it's not cools to mock Ron but this is a sport. And when people are playing a sport with _super_ passionate fans someone _will_ get hurt. For now, we should be glad that none of the Gryffindors have started blasted the Slytherins for singing."

"It wouldn't work. Everyone's been wearing reflective charmed bracelets once the candles started jinxing people." Selvis muttered. Ginny huffed and grumbled some more but swallowed her complaints, opting to yell at Ron to ignore them and start a chant of her own. Creating a howl of discord as the Hufflepuffs picked it up, passed it to the Gryffindors who roared their support.

"Aw geez," Ness mumbled, curling in a little to try and muffle the roar of song and words flying overhead, "We're going to have a brawl once this is over."

"In our defense, this is considered normal Slytherin behavior." Selvis offered, "Plus! This is a lot better than the dementor fake attack!"

"He has a point." Luna agreed.

"Sadly." Ginny growled, slumping a little in defeat before she resumed cheering for Ron. Who got even _worse_ with people yelling at him to ignore the Slytherins and not to worry as the Gryffindor players moved to pick up Ron's slack to try and give him time to catch a mental breather.

"He was _not_ ready for this." Ness commented as Ron fumbled the ball and dropped it into an almost waiting Slytherin player's hands. The boy's face heating up to a shade of red even brighter than his hair before it faded into a pasty white. "Well, at least they'll know to work on stage fright next time." Selvis muttered, flinching when Ginny elbowed him and increased her cheering.

It was a godsend when Harry snatched the snitch from under Malfoy's nose and held it up in the air, looking utterly relived and ready to collapse as everyone minus Slytherin jumped to their feet and gave roaring cheers of delight.

"Well, this was _slightly_ better than the Hurricane match—ow! Fine!" Ness rubbed his shoulder as Ginny moved to run out onto the field, probably to tell Ron he did a great job despite the jeering and mockery he had to endure. "…Should I hide?" Selvis asked, looking reluctant to join Ginny on her quest as Luna chased after her, mumbling something about keeping an eye on her to prevent a fist fight from breaking out.

"Maybe? I'm not really sure." Ness offered, "Remember, I live in America, where jeering is the _least_ offensive thing a sports fan could do."

"What's the worse?"

"Physically attacking the player after the game ended or the winning teams' fans. Police have started patrolling stadiums during sport seasons just to be safe."

Selvis blinked before burying his face in his hands, "When it comes to sports, we're crazy." Ness solemnly offered before he decided to go join Ginny who was chasing after a dejected looking Ron as Team Gryffindor squared off against Team Slytherin, their celebrations shifting into a ticking time bomb of violence.

His casual smile faltered a little when he saw just _how_ bad it was. The girls and a couple of the boys of Team Gryffindor were holding Fred and George back as Harry hissed at them to ignore Malfoy—who was wearing a gleeful sneer on his face as he resumed his trash talking—goading them into attacking him.

 _"Yea…he and Porky would be great friends-,"_ Ness started when he realized something, Malfoy acted a lot like Porky, personally going out of his way to antagonize Harry and his friends while seeming above them. He could dish it out, but he couldn't handle the backlash. And Harry wasn't one for playing nice when his friends and family were verbally antagonized. He also wasn't known for thinking through anger.

"Harry!" It happened in a rush of motion-yet oddly-slow motion as Malfoy's eyes widened in realization that his little game was going to reward him with pain as Harry flew forward, his fist forming as he moved for Malfoy's stomach.

Pure chaos erupted after that. He wasn't sure what exactly happened as he jumped in front of Malfoy to take the blow. Time slowed down for a bit, the world fading into a mess of chaotic greens and blues as Harry stood in front of the colorful mess.

Looking enraged and unfocused as his fist slammed into Ness's stomach. It didn't really hurt thanks to his well-rounded natural defense but the action was enough to trigger a bunch of warnings as he grabbed Harry's wrist.

"Harry chill! He isn't worth it!" Ness yelled, fighting back a wave of nausea from the background. That never happened before, what was going on?

"He—Is going to pay!" Harry snarled, looking momentarily confused at how Ness, a boy younger than him was able to be pushing against him and attempting to lock his arm behind his back.

He briefly heard someone yelling a spell, a flash of yellow missing its' target then a cry of "George!" as an orange blur clipped through the swirling mess of blue and green. _"Well this is going to be fun."_

Thank goodness his PSI had built him like a healing tank, it allowed him to be a bit more forceful and reckless when taking enemy blows for his friends. It also allowed him to shove Harry back toward someone trying to pull him off and tackle George to the ground.

Now for the not so fun part about being a healing tank. He was slower, which meant he was always going to be attacked first instead of the other way around.

Which was how he received a knuckle sandwich straight to the face served with an angry, "Get off!" from George. "Not until you calm down!" Ness retorted, feeling a headache coming on as he struggled to keep George to the ground. "All you're doing is proving that he's right! Do you _really_ want that?!"

Apparently yes, since he got another knuckle sandwich. Thank goodness wizards were naturally weak, at this rate he was going to get a broken nose as he gave up being nice and started to wrestle George to the ground.

"Stupify!" a cold numbing sensation ran down his spine as he suddenly found himself unable to move, his arms locked around George's chest in a bearhug as he tried to breath.

 _"Alright, someone stepped in to help. Cool, no need to worry—,"_ Panic interrupted his attempts to calm down, screaming at him to heal himself as his vision began to blur.

 _"Notsafenotsafenotsafenotsafe!"_

The background grew agitated, the blues and greens slamming into one another as a sickly green began to appear from the mess of color. _"Notsafenotsafenotsafenotsafenotsafe!"_

Was he _seriously_ going to have a panic attack over a provoked battle right after the Quidditch match? Alright, just focus on breathing and then using Healing—

 _"Can't breathe. I can't breathe!"_ Yelling, everyone was yelling. Why? Was he doing something again? He didn't _feel_ like doing anything, so hopefully it wasn't that. Was Harry and George still trying to murder Malfoy?

Was he okay? Even if the guy was a Porky 2.0 or maybe 0.2 he didn't deserve to be beaten to an inch of his life. Just a serious detention for provoking the Weasleys' and Harry and also underhanded playing tactics. Although that last one might be harder to get him on since every Slytherin was singing it.

The yelling was growing a bit louder, or maybe that was just him trying to push pass the loud heartbeat banging drums in his ears. He was fine, this was just a small setback and—

 _"Notfinenotfinenotfine!"_

-he just needed to freaking' BREATHE before he blew something up. Alright, he could blink now. Good, now he could see what was going on and try and stand up—

 _NOTSAFENOTSAFENOTSAFENOTSAFE_

In his defense. Waking up to see Umbridge standing off in the distance with that sickly-sweet smile aimed at Harry and George who were covered in grass and bruises from hopefully their scuffle with him was terrifying and made him forget how to breath.

That meant she had an edge over them. That meant she had control. That meant she was _winning._

Madam Hooch looked beside herself as she tried to regain control in-between spitting fire at the two boys who were gritting their teeth.

"Madam Hooch, we can take Ness up." He jumped from the sudden touch but relaxed when he saw it was Selvis. The boy shot him his best reassuring smile before he pulled him to his feet, "Er, just focus on breathing." He offered before he glanced at Malfoy who looked a little sick.

"Wha-," George started when Fred moved to say 'We'll take him' only to be shut down by Madam Hooch. "Even though I am appalled by your three's behavior, this is _Ness's_ decision to go with Karma and Malfoy."

"I'm fine with that." Ness managed, trying to give Harry a reassuring smile. "Good, as for you Potter, Weasley, up to the Headmaster's office!"

"But what about Malfoy-," Harry started to protest when Madam Hooch blew her whistle and pointed angrily toward the Headmaster's tower. Killing the argument as Selvis and Malfoy moved to lead Ness to the Hospital Wing.

The walk was tense, with Selvis's muttering of Ness being an American git filling the air as their footsteps echoed in the empty castle.

"Why'd you do it?" Malfoy jumped a little, clearly not expecting Ness, who had been focusing on counting the stone tiles in front of him to speak up.

"Do what?" Malfoy questioned, either trying to play dumb or still shaken from whatever had happened during his little freak out.

"Provoke them. Surely you _knew_ what would happen by adding those last few comments." Ness looked up, meeting the boy's eyes.

"I have my reasons," Malfoy huffed, forcing a scowl onto his face, "Why did _you_ feel the need to defend me?"

"Because he's an American git." Selvis supplied, rolling his eyes as Ness nudged him, "I wanted to defuse the situation. All I saw was you being a sore loser and the twins about to strangle you. Which you sort of deserved, but not by two people."

"So, it was for your own benefit?"

"Dude. I just wanted to stop Fred and George from proving the joke that Gryffindors punch first, ask questions later."

"And you failed." Selvis deadpanned, shooting him a scolding glare, "Next time, just use your 'magic'."

"And get a headache? No thanks." Ness replied before he turned back to Malfoy, "So, seriously. Why'd you do it? You seem like a smart kid, so why go and kick the already agitated bear when you'd lost?"

"Bear?" Selvis asked, frowning when Ness jokingly defended himself,

"Hey. George has a nasty swing. He felt like a bear."

"You've fought a bear?!"

"I've fought a lot of bears."

"What the he—What is wrong with you?!"

"Apparently, everything." Ness replied, laughing as Selvis facepalmed and mumbled, "He's fought a bear. Oh, my stars he's FOUGHT a bear!"

"And won."

"Of bloody course you did! What next? Did you fight a wolf!?"

"Yes, and a buffalo, and a coyote and-,"

"It wasn't a real question!"

"Oh. Sorry."

Selvis threw his hands up and looked at Malfoy, "See! This is why I told you to stay away from him! He's crazy!"

"I love you to Selvis."

Malfoy merely blinked before giving a small nod, allowing Ness to resume his pestering, "Was it because you outright hate Harry for some reason?"

"Every Slytherin does." Selvis deadpanned, "They just try and make him tolerable to deal with."

"Why?"

"Status." Malfoy answered, flinching when Ness focused on him again. "You know his title—'The boy who lived'—He earned it by doing _nothing_ and can just—toss it around and get away with pretty much anything!" He quickly blushed in embarrassment when he realized his oddly emotional outburst and looked away.

Accidently giving Ness a small puzzle piece that a certain backstabbing friend had created. He should ask Selvis about it later but for now…He should play it safe.

"So…are all Slytherins obsessed with status or is it just a couple people?" Ness asked.

"Status is everything." Sevlis answered, standing up a bit straighter, "We're the next generation of cunning business people with a lot of connections."

"Right, almost everyone in your house is rich." Ness recalled. Another puzzle coming together as he glanced at Malfoy, "So, you did it out of jealous?"

"I don't _get_ jealous Mudblood." Malfoy sneered.

"Then why did you create a plan revolving around provoking Harry and the twins?"

"None of your business."

"…I'm totally right-,"

"Oh look, we're here!" Selvis chirped, interrupted his questioning session as Malfoy took this as his cue to leave. "Madam Pomfrey, Ness had a panic attack and got beat up a little."

"Do I dare ask how?" Madam Pomfrey asked, ushering him over to a hospital bed to check over him.

"I was trying to stop Harry and George from murdering Malfoy, who sort of had it coming." Ness explained, trying not to flinch when she brought out her wand to heal his bruises. He was alright, he was fine.

"And the panic attack?" Ness suppressed another flinch as Selvis answered for him, "Madam Hooch tried to stun George and ended up hitting Ness. We think it's because of his close encounter with…you know, that he freaked out."

Madam Pomfrey hummed in acknowledgement before putting her wand away and handing him a piece of chocolate, "Come back if you feel dizzy or sore." She instructed as they left the hospital wing and hurried to their club house.

"…So…did anything happened while I was out?" Ness asked, nibbling on his chocolate as Selvis looked out the window. "Er…"

"What did I blow up this time?"

"Nothing, you just…" Selvis hesitated before practically spitting what had happened, "She reversed the stun but you weren't moving, you were just, frozen, your eyes squeezed tight from expecting another punch to the face. If you hadn't started to shake from lack of air I was _sure_ you would have died."

"Was that why Malfoy looked so…off?"

"I think so." Ness glanced at Selvis in surprised. Given how sneaky Selvis was he expected him to be a bit more aware of his housemates' emotional states.

"We don't talk a lot." Selvis deadpanned, "I rarely talk to people, I just—listen."

"Why? They seem to listen to you when trouble happens."

"Do you, er, remember what my parents do for a living?" He slowly nodded as Selvis fidgeted some more.

"Magic carpets," he finally prompted, "Seems like a stable job."

" _Flying_ carpets." Selvis corrected with a small huff, "Which are _banned_ to use in Great Britain." He blinked in surprise as Selvis continued, "My father came from a well-off family in the Middle East to sell carpets here before the Ministry banned them, but he isn't Slytherin."

"So?"

"My mother's Slytherin, but her family er…wasn't the best with saving money and had a bad history with other Slytherins."

"…Not seeing the problem-,"

"She married into wealth." Selvis deadpanned, "And my dad's basically illegally selling magic carpets from Britain into the Middle East to earn money. My mom, she _works_ at the Ministry. Something female Slytherins don't really do if they have a family. It's 'improper'. She isn't very high up in the Ministry but…it's enough to create a scandal for us."

"And since Slytherins are obsessed with Status and purebloods, having a child of a black sheep daughter who isn't very well off isn't a good thing."

Selvis shook his head no, "It's not _that_ bad considering how often Slytherins dip into grey areas of the law or served Voldemort. But, compared to Draco-,"

"Who?"

 _"Malfoy_ —it's small potatoes, his dad is on the board of education and Agatha, she's the heir to a powerful herb supplier! I'm sort of just, a nobody compared to them and all the other kids who have important shoes to fill." Selvis flushed and looked at his shoes, "It's sort of why I stuck around you at first, you were a newbie, you were a hero or something. You were like Potter, and unlike Potter who knows not to trust us, you just kept bothering me."

"So, you planned to use me to get information to try and feel important." Ness finished cringing as Selvis nodded. His eyes firmly fixed on his shoes. Clearly ashamed of his original intentions.

"Selvis, buddy, you don't have to feel bad."

"Ness. I've _used_ you. I'm _still_ using you. Half the in-school connections I've made is because of your-," Selvis trailed off before angrily gesturing toward his dull eyes, "And I'm the only one with inter-house ties!"

"And?"

"…And? This is sort of the part where you get mad or shun me."

"Selvis. My neighbor _used me_ as a meat shield, joined the bad guy and spent my entire journey to stop said bad guy manipulating people, stopping me and my friends and throwing insults at every corner." Ness deadpanned, "And that was the _first_ time I had ever been that badly misled by someone I trusted. Plus, if you're using me, then aren't I doing the same thing?"

"How so?"

"Who came up with the stones?" Ness asked.

"Me."

"Who used them to stop Mad-eyed Muddy and alert you to give me your camera for proof?"

"You."

"Who bugs you about everything related to Slytherin and this school's legal mess?"

"You."

"So, haven't I been using you?"

Selvis flushed before he snapped, "That's different! You have absolutely no clue about the Slytherins or the legal mess and that was a group effort to stop the bad guys!"

"So? Plus, you've sort of made it clear that you were only sticking around me for information in my first year."

"That was an excuse to stick around! That wasn't a real confession!"

"Everyway, friendship is sort of a give and take relationship." Ness retorted, "Besides, if you were using me to get info to feel important, then why do you put up with Luna and Ginny? You could just, try and force them to go away."

Selvis opened his mouth, paused then spluttered, "They wouldn't go away even if I blackmailed them!"

"I still wouldn't go away from that!" Selvis screamed as Ginny and Luna stepped the through, Luna looking pleasantly surprised as Ginny marched over to Selvis who was spluttering up a storm and preparing to defend himself from Ginny bonking him on the head.

"Honestly! Do you _really_ think I would stick around, suffering through your onslaught of insults and jeering if I didn't like _one_ part of you?!"

"I sort of thought you were a bit thick." Selvis admitted, yelping as Ginny moved to try and punch his stomach, resulting in Selvis running around the classroom as Ginny tried to dish out some revenge.

"Ness! Help!"

"Dude, you have _got_ to stop digging yourself into holes." Ness replied, laughing as Luna hummed, "He must have an invisible shovel given how quickly he falls into them."

"Lovegood! I swear to _god!"_ Selvis started when he tripped and crashed into a desk, ending Ginny's chase as she huffed, "Karma." Then scowled as he cheekily retorted, "Oh, so you _do_ know my last name."

"Selvis, stop." Ness giggled, as Ginny rolled up her sleeves.

"Fine." Selvis grumbled before his face exploded a bright red, "Wait, did you hear everything?!"

"Yes." Ginny answered as Luna hummed, "I never knew how important status was. I thought you guys were just obsessed with bloodlines."

Selvis groaned and muttered something into his sleeve as Ness turned to Ginny, "How's Ron? He seemed pretty…"

"Miserable?" Ginny offered, "He was ready to snap his broom in half and resign"

Ah. That wasn't good.

"We managed to cheer him up a bit, but…I don't think it worked." Luna added, looking a little nervous as Selvis shakily drawled, "Of course not, he was the weak link in the team and he's going to feel like trash. He's going to feel even worse when he hears that his brother and best friend went ballistic on his behalf to shut Draco up."

"Who?" Luna asked, grinning as Selvis threw his hands up in disbelief.

"Speaking of Malfoy, why'd you do it?" Ginny folded her arms and looked at Ness who nervously laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "I didn't know what he was saying exactly and just wanted to stop Harry from beating him to death. Sure, he has _some_ karm—punishment coming to him, but it should probably be in the form of a teacher doing it instead of some students."

He laughed again and shrugged, "I guess it was the hero in me that reacted without thinking. My PSI allows me to be a healing tank, so I felt confident in taking a couple blows before I started to show injury."

"He's fought a _bear._ " Selvis added, "Several of them!"

"And I watched a band come defeat an unbeatable robot for me." Ness interjected, grinning as Selvis's jaw dropped before he resumed burying his face in his robe sleeves.

"Ness's weirdness aside…what's going to happen now?" they looked at Ginny who nervously went on, "I mean, with the song and Harry almost murdering Malfoy, this isn't going to look good for the Slytherins."

"It might." Ness offered, but he wasn't 100% sure about that, "It was just a game and Malfoy being a sore loser."

"Yea, to the point that you, the enigma who's been a peacekeeper had to jump in and get pummeled by two Qudditch players to break up the fight." Selvis deadpanned, shuddering a little, "I was terrified that you might get seriously hurt when you tackled George. He was ballistic compared to Harry!"

 _"And stronger."_ Ness begrudgingly thought, ignoring the faint throbbing above his nose and mouth as Luna nodded in agreement, "It must have been a scary sight to see."

"Not adding Ness suddenly freezing up like that. I thought he died."

"He did what?!"

Selvis dutifully explained what had happened while they were busy coxing Ron into not quitting with some cliff notes. "You made Malfoy _blush_?" Ginny asked, looking ready to laugh or maybe insist that wasn't possible.

"He wasn't intending to tell me that much." Ness replied, "I guess I sort of spooked him into moving away from his mask."

"You are pretty unnerving." Selvis muttered as Luna gave a thoughtful hum, "I guess it makes sense why Slytherins are so hateful of Harry. Not only does he break the rules and get away with it, but he's also high up in the wizarding world."

"Or, he was." Ness countered, "Knowing Umbridge, she'll spin this into a story that Harry has anger issues."

"Doesn't he?" Selvis asked, cringing when Ginny shot him a glare, "Hey! I don't talk to Harry much alright? And every time I've seen him get mad he just, blanks out and moves to violence!"

"He probably isn't used to being able to act on that anger." Luna mused, "I've heard his homelife is pretty bad. And here, he's sort of 'untouchable' in an emotional sense."

They let that sink in for a bit before Ness sighed and stood up, "Whatever happens, happens. For now, we can just pray that Quidditch isn't the reason behind people distrusting the Slytherins in our club."

Of course, that's what totally happened. The next day, news had gotten around that Harry, George _and_ Fred had been _suspended_ indefinitely from playing Quidditch. Of course, every house had its own reaction to that.

Gryffindor found it unfair that they had been _banned_ while Malfoy had gotten off without any trouble. Some of them were also blaming Ness for not letting George get any hits in before Madam Hooch stepped in while others were fuming that despite Ness's efforts to keep them out of trouble he had failed and gotten a slap in the face from Umbridge. The members of Deterrence Aegis were especially spiteful of this.

Hufflepuff found it unfair as well at the overkill punishment and that Malfoy got off as well. But some were suspicious of the Slytherin Quidditch team working with Umbridge who had a hand in the punishment. Thankfully, those in the Detterrenc Aegis were blaming Malfoy who had been singled out as the ringleader instead off all of them.

Ravenclaw were pretty neutral to this. According to Luna this was because they were focusing on building a case against her since Fred had been restrained and therefore should get a smaller punishment compared to his twin. Yes, it was clear that the twins _both_ had some 'anger issues' but that would have called for a separate action instead of lumping the two problems together.

Slytherin? They were torn between being gleeful of Harry getting knocked down a couple pegs and upset by the fact that Umbridge would only help them when it benefited _her_ and _her_ alone. Even Malfoy was looking a little unsure of where to stand in this mess since he had been under the belief that he was caught in the act only to be saved by Umbridge. Who had 90% of the school against her.

"It's not looking good." Selvis admitted one day as team Boundless relaxed in Ness's special room after a grueling day of studying for before break homework and upcoming tests.

"Everyone's spilt between hating Umbridge and Umbridge alone or putting her back with the Slytherins."

"So, we're back were we started." Ginny deadpanned, looking up from her Charms book with a small groan, "Just when we were making some progress."

"Well, at least no one's making a big fuss about it during DA." Ness mumbled, trying to stay awake as he leaned against a teddy bear, "So far, everyone's just using this as an excuse to be more prepared for Umbridge's next scheme."

"Plus, someone already outed Malfoy as the lyric master." Selvis added, "That helped a bit."

Ginny nodded in agreement as Luna hummed, "I wonder why the random attacks stopped…"

 _"Maybe because I feel safe now."_ Ness wondered as he off handedly stated, "Let's just be thankful that nothing's blown up yet."

"Yet." Selvis echoed, "The only reason it hasn't is because everyone is keeping a low profile in terms of outright hating us."

"Let's just hope that this keeps up until winter break." Ginny sighed, everyone eagerly agreeing with her as they moved to turn in for the night.

 _"Will it be peaceful until Christmas break?"_ Ness wondered, his hand firmly wrapped around the dream pillow Luna had given him to ease his nightmares.

That was a big if given the negative energy floating around, all aimed at Umbridge thankfully and on redoubling their efforts to protect themselves in case of a huge backlash from their invisible foes.

 _"I hope so… I don't want any of my friends getting hurt."_ Ness rolled onto his side, his eyes closed as he searched for pleasant dreams and a fair end to Umbridge's tyrannical reign of power.

* * *

 **You know, having Selvis with an actual backstory came out of nowhere. I originally wanted Ness to blow up the locker room for _all_ of the houses out of frustration that their hard work was going to be destroyed by Malfoy's mouth and the Gryffindor's team reaction to Ron's harassment but then Malfoy showed up. Then Selvis. and my plan for something blowing up didn't work. I'm still blowing something up though - **

**Reviews!**

 **.Wilson- Aw thx! And speaking of Chuggaconroy I need to stop being a wimp and watch the latest Earthbound episodes. ^-^;**

 **CybeastFalzar- The bonds of trust will be tested when the sneak appears. Or if it appears, dun dun dun!**

 **Ed- Thx! Now if you excuse me, I'm off to scream into a pillow to comprehend the compliment over the fact that I'm visually improving! :D**


	34. Chapter 34, Joy Before Sorrow

"Merry early Christmas!" Ness chirped, grinning as Ginny looked at her present bag in disbelief.

"Ness, you could have waited until _tonight._ " Ginny pointed out, grabbing his arm and pulling him back to the breakfast table before he could give Luna her early Christmas gift.

"Nope! I'm getting all of my wizard chores out of the way so I can just relax! Oh! Harry! Happy Early Christmas!" Ness vaguely heard Ginny give a laugh of disbelief as he shoved a present bag into Harry's hands then repeated the process to Hermione and Ron, who looked surprised at his inhuman happiness.

"Ness…? Are you alright?" Hermione asked as Ness eyed Selvis and Luna. Luna was giggling while Selvis was shooting him daggers, _daring_ him to embarrass him in front of everyone.

"Better than every since it's almost Christmas break!" Ness chirped, bouncing on his heels as Ron and Harry shared a look. "It means I get to chill at home without the fear of something blowing up!"

A red and green explosion happened overhead, prompting everyone to wearily duck under the table as the remains of some paper object floated down onto the table. Harry managed a tired mumble of, "Merry Christmas." As Ness headed back to his seat forcing his smile to stay on his face.

After the Quidditch match he and Harry had been on even _worse_ terms than before. It was hard to apologize after nearly starting a fight and derailing a train over a simple disagreement. But it was even _harder_ to apologize for starting/stopping a fight to injury/protect one's worst enemy who had the beating coming to them.

Fred and George easily apologized after the sting of being suspended from Quidditch for life had faded a bit, even thanking him for attempting for preventing the worst outcome from happening. But Ness was sure that it was going to be a bit harder for Harry.

After all, it wasn't like he was working to apologize to him for the fight on the train. He had found himself oddly skirting around the problem and making it up by helping him with DA which was slowly corroding from Umbridge's influence.

After Harry's actions against Malfoy people had become a bit…tense around him, somewhat believing Umbridge's belief of Harry being mental and unhinged given his almost violent attack on Malfoy. Slytherins especially were nervous around Harry since they knew the Golden Trio's hatred of them. Some of it was rightfully earned given Malfoy's underhanded acts and their willingness to go along with it but…

It was unfair to blame just _Slytherin_ for Malfoy's actions which had goaded them all into doing it. For them, it was just a tactic to ensure that they won. They had only taken part in one attack, not both. But it was easy to worry about it since none of them knew how to apologize without making it worse.

Ron was making it a lot harder given how sullen he had become, clearly blaming himself for making the entire school rallying with and against him.

But, that was a small problem for Ness to worry about. For now, he was going to focus on the positive. Which was leaving early in the morning to head home with Selvis for Christmas Break.

For the entire school day, he was an energetic mess, happily skipping around the castle, zoning out in class and happily giving Umbridge giant smiles just to unnerve her.

She couldn't touch him in his happy place. No one could.

"Stop being happy." Selvis ordered during potions, looking annoyed as Ness just smiled at him, "I think I liked it better when you were moody."

"But it's Christmas-,"

"It's the _18th_ nimrod!"

Potions maaaay have ended with Ness nearly blowing his potion up from being unable to sit still. "You. Owe. Me." Selvis growled, looking thoroughly done with dealing with him as he salvaged their potion and managed to get a decent grade on it.

"And that is why you get an early Christmas gift! Merry-,"

"18th."

"Whatever!" He shoved the bag into his hands and resumed breezing through the school day. Planning on giving Luna's gift to her during DA since she was busy helping someone—yes, someone in her house had _asked her_ to help with an experimental spell—and couldn't meet up at their clubhouse during lunch or break.

His good mood doubled when he snuck into the DA club room ten minutes early than when Harry was supposed to arrive with Hermione and Ron and spotted one of the house elves decorating the entire place with Harry head ornaments made of gold grinning down at him alongside a banner that read, "Have a very Harry Christmas!"

He might have given the elf a heart attack from bursting out laughing from the sheer overkill before suggesting putting up ornaments for all the houses and getting rid of Harry's name.

"Oh…alright." The elf reluctantly agreed, cheering back up when Harry walked into the room five minutes later and nearly fainted from the overkill as they removed the Harry heads. "Look! Mini yous!" Ness joked, tossing one at Harry who clumsily caught it before looking blankly at it.

"Well then!" Ron managed, muffling a couple laughs as Hermione rushed to help the house elf with putting up the new decorations. Ginny and Luna showed up next, Luna having a good giggle as Ginny glanced at the elf in surprise before joining the decoration crew.

Selvis came last and had a fun time rolling around the floor laughing at Harry's 'ego' before Ginny moved to shut up him.

"Very funny." Harry mumbled, his face a bright red as Selvis wheezed, "Potter head!" and resumed giggling. Thankfully, he managed to calm down enough to finish putting the decorations up before anyone else showed up.

"Impressive." Agatha noted as she led her Slytherin housemates inside behind the Ravenclaws, who were admiring their work.

Hufflepuff was impressed as well, proud smiles on their faces as they watched everyone more or less get along before they had to split up for class. "Merry early Christmas Luna!" Ness chirped before going to hide in the closet and play Golden Sun.

Happily listening to the class go on as he bashed monsters' head in with swords and Psy-energy. Harry had greatly improved over the two months, naturally growing into his role as a teacher and a leader with only a few road bumps along the way.

 _"This is going to be the best Christmas ever_." Ness foolishly thought as time passed and the yell of spells and stuns faded into peaceful quiet as the class ended.

"Remember, next time we meet we'll be working on Patronus." Harry explained, sounding very proud of their hard work as people cheered and began whispering about what their Patronus would look like.

"I hope mine's a spider." Luna admitted, prompting a yelp of, "Why would you want that!?" from Ron as Ginny giggled.

"Because, they symbolize being meaningful in making your choices." Luna explained, "And some believe that spiders control fate."

"Spiders shouldn't exist! There horrific, eight legged beasts!"

"I find them to be quite cute." Luna admitted, probably smiling as Ron dissolved into a spluttering mess, "Cute?! CUTE?!"

"Give it up Weasley, she's not right in the head." Selvis interjected before thoughtfully adding, "Although spiders _are_ pretty cool."

 _"Rest in peace Ron."_ Ness thought, giggling as Ron made incoherent noise until someone led him away, probably Ginny judging by the soft, "There-there."

"So, what's a Patronus again?" Ness asked, once everyone expect the clean up crew had said their good byes and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

Harry looked at him in disbelief before deadpanning, "It's that white deer I summoned against the dementor."

"Ohh, the ghost animal!"

"Ghost?" Ginny echoed as Ness shrugged, "I've fought a couple."

"Of course. Alongside _bears_ and _robots_." Selvis grumbled, shaking his head in disgust as he put up the cushions.

"Why have you fought a bear?" Ron asked before he joked, "Did you steal it's honey or something?"

"I wish. Then I could bribe it to spare me." Ness grumbled, remembering the not so fun battles against the bear and his brothers.

"…Americans. Are. Weird." Selvis deadpanned after a long moment of stunned silence.

"And proud of it." Ness replied before they resumed cleaning to head to bed. Confident that _something_ would go his way tomorrow as he closed his eyes and focused on heading home, seeing his friends and family and _finally_ getting some answers about what was going on with his nightmare related to Giygas and the monsters seemingly obeying him.

Of course, nothing wanted to go his way. Which was why he woke up and felt…off. Very, very off.

 _"Dear Fate, I hate you. A lot."_ Ness grumpily thought, wondering why it was so dark and very…big. He _clearly_ wasn't back at the dorms but…if he wasn't there, then where was he?

Another illusion like Moonside? A place deeply effected by a powerful being? Wizarding stronghold? _"Thinking about it isn't going to help."_ Ness decided, _"I need to find some answers."_

His legs felt stiff, like someone had glued the muscles and joints together and never bothered to fix or stretch them out. Making getting up a little tricky as he leaned forward, hissing in pain and concentration as his body struggled to go through with the prompt of movement. "I wonder if this is how statues feel." Ness murmured, trying to stay positive as he touched something stone cold and some fabric covering his legs.

Flowing fabric in the form of a—

 _"Why the heck am I in a skirt?!"_ Was this some sort of cruel joke?! He reached up to rub his throbbing head when he noticed how his fingers looked glued together like a—

"I'm a doll?!" A quick—well, sort of slow pat down later confirmed his thoughts. He was _indeed_ in a doll, an old fashion one judging by the rough wood on his legs and the thin but equally rough fabric wrapped around him like a dress.

What on earth was going on? Why was he suddenly a _doll?!_ He'd had weird dreams before, been in completely different worlds and traveled through time in a robot body, but this was ridiculous!

"Alright…breath." Ness murmured, clumsily getting to his feet and hisses as he bumped his head, loosen a coarse curl of brown hair. "I'm somehow…a doll." That was going to take a while to get used to, "And apparently, I'm in a box. So, first order of business. Getting out of the box."

It was clearly a metal box, firmly made for some odd reason since it wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pushed and kicked the door. Was he in a bank? That was the only thing he knew of that had a small metal box to store things.

Although, he doubted banks had reinforced the door and walls with magic. There was a _lot_ of it. And it was slowly driving him crazy.

"Rockin' Omega!" Did absolutely nothing, which was unsettling. Magic hadn't stopped his attacks before, At least, not so quickly. Where was he that required such high-level magic?

Or…maybe it was because he was a different person? Which meant he had different attacks? A quick check through his personal stats quickly informed him that he did indeed have different attacks.

Apparently, the doll was supposed to be a support unit, having Healing Beta, Shield Sigma, PSI Shield Sigma and Defense Down Alpha. But then it had a couple weird attacks, like Fulgur CREPITUS, which would create a bunch of electrical explosions to hurt everyone on the field and Oppungo Flamma, which would grab nearby objects and throw them on people to set them aflame.

It was weird, especially since they had no Greek sign to show how powerful they were. They were just, there. But they seemed to be his best bet.

"Fulgur CREPITUS!" In hindsight, using a lightning-based attack inside a small, cramped metal box was a _terrible_ idea. Light washed over him, the sound of explosions and the crackle of raw electricity nearly deafening him as something landed with a loud bang. "Never. Again." Ness swore, blinking his eyes to get rid of the pure white void obstructing his sight. He was thoroughly surprised to find himself in a simple storage room for random items.

Scratch that. He was in a vault _full_ of jars, metal boxes lining the walls and two giant metal doors. Each item was carefully labeled with the object's name and number of danger.

The wall of shelves were boring names such as, Nurse Doll, Grinning Puppet or Living Shoe with danger levels at a solid ten. The jars had moving liquid and—ew, there was an eyeball in one of them for some disturbing reason—murky green fog that seemed to be following his every move and a spider. Who was writing something on the glass.

The name tags were a bit less boring here—the eye was named Glass Seer, the murky fog was Mist of Tricks and the spider was named Widow.

 _"What's going on here? Where am I?"_

 _"In jail. Duh."_ He jumped and spun around, yelping when his stiff legs failed to react and buckled underneath him, sending him crashing to the ground.

 _"Up here Mary._ " Mary? Was that this doll's name? He pushed himself up and followed the being's instructions. Blinking at the spider who was waving hello. _"Having fun being free?"_

He glanced at the smoking door behind him then looked back up at the spider who seemed a bit puzzled by his lack of response. _"Yo, Sister Mary. You alright? You seem…off and-,"_ he abruptly stopped then seemed to nod in understanding. _"You aren't Mary, you're our new boss."_

"What." The spider was joking, right? If he was their new boss then that mean that Giygas's influence was still lingering and—

 _"Boss? You okay? You're making Mary shake a little-,"_ Widow started when something rippled through the air, something powerful and ancient.

Something that overwhelmed his fumbling mind into screaming in agony and lashing out with whatever it had available. Which meant throwing everything around him with Oppungo Flamma. _"Whoa! Whoa! Chill Mary! It's just the other boss!"_ Widow yelped, a web cocoon forming around the spider as the something abruptly stopped.

"W…w—other boss?" It was probably a good thing that Sister Mary didn't have knees, since he was ready to fall back down to the ground and curl into a shivering ball at how familiar that something had felt.

Was Giygas really back? Was he behind one of the two doors? They seemed big enough for a person to use.

 _"Yea! You know-,"_ Widow started when the something returned, only it seemed to focus more on Widow than him this time around.

 _"Er…On second thought, don't worry about him. He's retired now or something."_ Widow stated, nervously tapping his legs against one another as Ness looked at him in disbelief. "R-right…So, where am I?"

 _"In those corrupted monsters stronghold."_ Widow hissed, his casual mood vanishing and being replaced with a frightful aura, _"They locked us up once Master Giygas vanished! They tampered with out minds!"_

Tampered with their minds? Was…was that why they were still alive without Giygas being present? And what did Widow mean by 'vanish'? Was he talking about how Giygas vanished from reality all together or…something else?

"So…you don't have ANY clue where we are?"

 _"Nope. We newbies have been in here for about three years. The others? Almost ten maybe twenty. They can't tell."_

Three years, the start and end of his journey. Twenty and ten? Perhaps his grandfather's adventure. Both of which had Giygas's influence messing things up. But why didn't the Ministry just let them handle it? He doubted his grandfather stayed in one country, he for sure didn't. Traveling all over the world to find and stop Giygas.

"Well…thanks, I'm going to try and get some information." Ness stated, struggling to turn toward the door he hoped was the exit as Widow wished him luck. It was a little unnerving to see how everything had an almost perfect copy in the room. As if to create an optical illusion to ward off intruders like him.

Or, perhaps that was more magic getting in the way as he stopped in front of door number one and pressed his 'ear' against the cold metal. His heart increasing in rhythm as he heard faint, shallow breathing and felt the _something_ from before.

Ness jerked back, muffling a yelp as he saw a misty white hand created by PSI reach _through_ the door, its long fingers desperately reaching out as his worn wooden boots slipped on the stone tiled floor. A scream almost ripping through his throat as the hand wrapped around the doll's head.

 _His head._ And a surplus of jumbled and angered thoughts broke through his fragile defenses. A string of gibberish and techno babble that made his brain spin into a pile of mush before he tried to fight back.

Swiping at the misty hand the best he could while trying to piece the command of Fulgur CREPITUS as the hand struggled to stay still.

 ** _L_** **& ^%$#**

 **$%^ &*** ** _i_** **(* &**

 **^%$#$%^** ** _tt_**

 **(^%$** ** _le_**

 ** _br_** *** &$#** ** _o_**

 ** _th_** **(* &^**

 ** _er?_**

The being seemed to ask as the hand tightened his grip around his head. _"I can't breath! I can't think!"_ cut across the gibberish as Ness moved to trying to mimic a punch and a kick with his wooden limbs.

 **" ! !"** the thing stated, sounding cheerful for a moment as the gibberish halted, leaving a void of silence before—before… Huh? A soft melody started to play, gently bouncing around his head and relaxing him.

This melody was his mother's lullaby, Giygas's lullaby. And the something was playing it note for note. For a moment, Ness forgot he was in some creepy dark room with PSI beings corrupted by Giygas's influence, he forgot that the misty white hand was still lingering around him, coiled around his shoulders like a warm scarf.

He was back home. With Tracey and his mother who were smiling and laughing at something dumb he had said while King barked and tried to join their conversation.

 **" ?"** the something asked, the hand pulling back now and giving him some air.

"Y-yea…thanks." What was this thing? And why did it sort of remind him of…no, that wasn't possible. Hopefully...

Content with its good deed the hand pulled back, disappearing behind the door as Ness turned around and headed for the real exit. Feeling light and relaxed for the first time in months.

Not even the creepy dark hallways with looming railings and gaping voids of darkness hidden behind them could get him down as he hobbled somewhere. Not exactly sure where to go as something pulled towards him, urging him to hurry.

But why? He didn't know as he found himself blocked by a giant door. Taunting him as he tried to push it open and discovered that something heavy was blocking it.

Looks like Sister Mary's inhuman strength wasn't going to work this time around. "Here comes another round of lightning." Ness grumbled, not in the mood to be blinded again as he backed up and readied the attack. "Fulgar-!" he started when the door opened and he found himself looking up at a giant wearing a robe and having carrot orange hair receding from his head.

It took him a moment to realize he was looking up at Mr. Weasley who was looking down at him in an expression warped with confusion and a sleepy frown. "How did you-," Mr. Weasley started, backing up to attack when Ness noticed something behind the man. Something the color of a swamp lake and readying itself to strike.

"Mr. Weasley look out!"

"Wha-," The poor man barely had time to position himself to be able to see both him and the snake when it lunged forward, a faint scream of _"No!"_ echoing inside the beast's head as Ness lunged forward and grabbed its tail, cringing as Sister Mary's strength proved to be useless against living beings as the snake only shuddered from surprise.

"Mr. Weasley! Get to safety! I got this!" Ness promised, cringing as the doll hands began to slip on the beast's smooth tail, his moment of flexibility rapidly vanishing as Mr. Weasley backed up in a stunned daze.

"Or ya know, you could just stand the-RE!" the snake jerked forward, the voice inside its head pleading for him to stop it as Ness threw himself on top of the beast's back, grinning as it spun around and tried to attack him.

"Close the door!" he ordered, relived to see Mr. Weasley jolt back to reality as Ness willed the snake to be blasted by Fulgur CREPITUS!

 **Super effective! Nagini/H?R?Y took 400 damage!**

 **Wizard took 400 damage!**

 **Wizard is knocked out!**

"What?!" He looked up as the snake writhed in pain, its influence fading a bit as Ness spotted Mr. Weasley. His mouth dropping in horror as he saw the man's smoking body and shattered wand. "No! Mr. Weasley! I didn't-," he scrambled to his feet, hobbling over to perform Heal Beta before the man completely withered away when the snake gave an angry hiss and lunged for _him_.

"Go away!" Ness snapped, irritation bubbling over as his calm and peaceful bubble shattered from the shock of injuring Mr. Weasley. The snake faltered a bit, its eyes fogging over as a mark flashed briefly on its burnt skin.

 _"Massster?"_ the snake questioned. His stomach violently dropping as the snake blinked and tilted its head, repeating, _"Massster."_ In a much happier tone.

"N-no, I'm not your-!" Ness started, waving his hands when he remembered Mr. Weasley and how Nagini was originally going for a death blow. "Stay there!" he ordered turning around to heal the man. Shivering when Nagini happily complied.

"Alright…this should stabilize him…for now." Ness mumbled, feeling sick at how badly Mr. Weasley looked, his PSI managing to cover most of the burns and oddly angled arm in a soothing wave but…he was going to need serious treatment. Magic and PSI didn't mix. He didn't want to risk breaking Mr. Weasley's magic or permanently scarring the man. He needed to call for help.

"Nagini, right?" Nagini happily bobbed her head yes, pausing for a moment as her eyes glazed over for a moment. "I need you to take me to a phone, pronto!"

 _"Of course, Master."_ Nagini slithered towards him, stopping and lowering her head to allow him to climb on before they moved on. Nagini gleefully proving how fast a snake could move as they shot down flights of stairs and through pipes and vents to reach the bottom floor.

 _"Enemies…!"_ Nagini hissed as a group of people in dark robes rushed into the building, their wands lighting up the room as they hurried into the elevators. Ness's heart jumping for joy when he heard someone mutter, "He's on the fifth floor, hurry!"

The other voice in Nagini's head must have called for help as well! Mr. Weasley was going to get proper help! "It's alright Nagini, there going to help my friend."

 _"Friend?"_

"Yes, the…smoking man upstairs."

 _"Friend…"_ Nagini repeated as Ness started to feel lightheaded and…was someone yelling? Not now! He needed to figure out what to do with Nagini!

"Uh, Nagini! Head home and chill until I call for your help!" Ness hastily ordered feeling faint as he heard something else whisper at him, almost… begging him to stay safe before he blacked out and woke up in his own bed. His body feeling numb and almost alien as he waited for the odd sensation to pass before sitting up.

Even though those wizards had shown up, Ness still needed to inform Ginny about what had happened and what to expect when she suddenly got the call to come home.

But he didn't need to do it. As he stumbled the common room he was surprised to see some Fifth years exchanging worried looks. They were mostly boys but there were a couple girls as Hermione tried to shoo everyone to bed.

"What's going on?" Ness flinched at how soft his voice sounded, almost to quiet to be heard among the growing volume of whispers and mutters. "Hey, what's going on?" he repeated, a little louder than before.

A student jumped and turned around, a girl wearing a lilac nightgown who seemed a little familiar. But he couldn't place the name, not when his body was having such a hard time adjusting to his mind. Was it this bad when he had jumped in and out of the robot body to defeat Giygas?

He didn't think so…

"It's Potter! He had some sort of prophecy dream about Ron's dad!"

What. Since when was Harry a psychic?! "He's injured?" Ness asked, trying to play off his disbelief and panic as friendly concern for his friend's dad.

"Not sure, according to the boys he was insisting that he needed to speak to Dumbledore and charged into the Professor's room. When she came back, she told us to get the other Weasleys' and send them to Dumbledore's office as well."

So, Harry _did_ know he was seriously injured. But how? He was the only one with the power to jump into other objects and—wait. Was he the influence surrounding Nagini?

A shiver ran down his spine as he mumbled something about going back to bed. Sleep was impossible to return to, his mind in overdrive wondering how a wizard could influence an animal's decisions yet couldn't.

Harry didn't have any ill will to Mr. Weasley, why should he? And yet Nagini was still attempting to murder the man until Ness overpowered Harry's hold on the snake.

Was there someone else controlling Nagini? Or…something else? Something much worse than his current dilemma?

When morning rolled around he was dead tired. Plagued with worry and guilt for getting Mr. Weasley so badly injured and unable to check up on him. The Weasleys' plus Harry were no where to be seen for the morning train back to the station. Which was odd and a bit worrisome unless they had somehow teleported out of the castle to be at Mr. Weasley's side.

But that didn't make sense either since you couldn't Apparate in or out of the castle unless you were a PSI user. Hermione had drilled that fact in during his second year thanks to the Black fiasco.

 _"Don't worry about it. You can just write Ginny a letter-,"_ Oh wait…he couldn't do that since she would probably be at a location closer to whatever hospital her father had been taken to. His stomach curled into seven tight knots at the realization he would be unable to check in on his friend from home.

Why couldn't wizards have telephones!? That would make everything a bit easier! With a groan Ness got up, feeling to sick to continue eating and began walking to the carriages. Hoping the brief amount of winter fresh air would help clear his mind into thinking rationally about his situation.

It didn't. Sure, it helped a _little_ to focus on the positives like seeing his family again, chatting with Jeff and Paula about Giygas being back and just being able to relax without the fear of dying or completely losing it.

But the seed of guilt had been planted. And without a way to properly check on Ginny, there was no way to weed the seed out of his mind. Since he had taken the first carriage he was the first one on the train despite everyone's desire to get out of the castle as fast as they could.

Giving him a couple more moments to try and wrestle the weed out of his mind before he gave up and moved to play Puyo-Puyo.

He managed to reach level 4 before the train lurched to life. The sudden movement filing him with relief as the clock began ticking down. Only four or five hours to go before he was back to civilization and then Eagle Land.

He got to level six before Selvis found him, looking winded and thoroughly annoyed as he slammed the door behind him. "Bloody hell—don't just up and disappear like that!"

Ness glanced up, pausing his struggle to beat the Demon Prince to snarkily remark, "How could I disappear if I just walked here?"

Selvis scowled and sat down with a huff, "Magic that's how! And I couldn't even find Ginny to ask if you had already left!"

Ness flinched a little before closing his Gameboy, figuring it was best to tell Selvis now than pretending he didn't know why she was missing. "Mr. Weasley was attacked."

"…What. Wait no, how do you _know this?"_

"Because I saw it happened. I indirectly attacked him." Selvis opened his mouth, closed it then groaned. "Explain in wizard terms please."

"Yea about that…"

"Earthbound. PLEASE."

"Fine, fine." Ness adjusted his hat before explaining his 'dream', the discovering of being in Sister Mary's body and being forced to use a new set of PSI powers, meeting Widow who informed him of the 'other boss' after realizing who he really was, the other boss's attempt to do _something_ to him before calming him down with his lullaby, finding Mr. Weasley and apparently surprising him and then turning into Nagini's new 'master'.

When he finished, Selvis looked completely and utterly done with the idea of PSI and his insane adventure. "So, all the Weasleys' plus Harry are at Saint Mungo's Hospital—Why are you looking at me like that."

"Did Ginny tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Selvis asked before his eyes widened a bit, "Ah, right. You muggles have a bunch of hospitals spread out that can do different things for different injuries."

"Well, expect the hospitals in Eagle Land, they can fix almost everything." Ness countered.

Selvis ignored that part and went on, "Since he got blasted with…electricity and explosions?" he shot Ness a look of disbelief, silently pleading that he had misheard that part when Ness merely returned his gaze with a blank one, "Americans." The boy grumbled, "He'll need the best of the best wizard wise to heal properly. St. Mungo's is the best for all your magically injuries that can't be explained to muggles."

"Can we visit?"

"Maybe. Depends on how badly injured he is. And if we can catch Ginny to convince her to let us in."

Ness nodded and looked out the window, feeling a little relived that he had a location of where Mr. Weasley was to possibly check on him. Sure, he might not know _where_ exactly, but a name was better than nothing.

"I wonder…" he looked up from his thoughts, muffling a laugh as Selvis happily wrote something in code in his notebook. "Wonder what?" Ness prompted, his laugh escaping him as Selvis looked up with an eager gaze.

"What Mr. Weasley was guarding of course!"

Guarding? Why would he be standing guard? He didn't completely understand the man's role at the Ministry. He didn't really remember paying attention to it at the time since there was no reason to get involved with the law but…he doubted Mr. Weasley would stand guard. In the middle of the night. Alone… Guarding a room with corrupted PSI and possibly Magic items…

"You noticed it too, right?" Selvis asked, giddily bouncing up and down a bit, "Something's _off_ with this story!"

Very off now that he thought about it. Mr. Weasley looked startled and almost dazed when he spotted him. As if he _knew_ he was expecting a disturbance from the _front_ and not from _behind_.

"Alright Mr. Theorist, what's your idea?" Ness asked, mentally preparing for Selvis's idea. "Well-," a knock cut him off, prompted him to look to the door with a scowl as Ness called, "Come in." allowing Luna to step inside carrying a moon covered travel bag and her usual smile.

"I didn't know you were going on holiday break." Selvis stated, a small frown appearing as Ness nodded in agreement, "I thought you were staying to chill with Ginny."

Luna gave a small shrug and sat down beside him, "I was, but then she disappeared. Medical reasons Professor McGonagall informed me. So, I thought I'd come home to spend some time with my dad."

"And they just let you come, just like that?" Ness asked, snapping his fingers to add empathize to his point.

"With a bit of persuading of course." Luna admitted, her smile growing a bit as Selvis looked at her and covered his mouth like a proud parent. "Yup. Totally the dad." Ness teased, laughing as Selvis snapped, "Shut it Earthbound! I have theories to explain!"

"What about?" Luna leaned forward, her smile sharpening a bit as she properly woke up. Her smile faded and wavered a bit when Ness retold the story, making a point to explain about Oppungo Flamma and Fulgur CREPITUS given Luna's Ravenclaw background. Perhaps she knew something about those attacks that he didn't.

"Interesting." Luna mused, keeping her thoughts to herself for the moment as Selvis launched into his theory, "The reason why Mr. Weasley—Head officer of Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects—was guarding a door that lead to something much, _much_ more dangerous to wizards was to prevent _someone_ from getting in!"

"Which was why Nagini attacked him." Ness finished, frowning a little, "But, what was he guarding? And why? I mean, if it was just the PSI corrupted items then yea, maybe he wanted to keep them out of the wrong hands since they're pretty powerful in influencing people or objects. But that doesn't explain the long hallway I walked through."

"Which means Mr. Weasley might be guarding something else in that hallway." Luna mused, "Something that would require him to stand in front of the main door to ensure that no one could slip by."

"But why not just wait in that _room?"_ Selvis asked, "It's almost like he didn't know _what_ he was guarding exactly and was just playing guard!"

"Then…maybe he _was_ just playing guard." Ness offered, the gears sluggishly churning in his head, "Maybe…Maybe there's something in that hallway that Voldemort _wants_ but no one knows what exactly, or maybe _Dumbledore_ knows."

Selvis scoffed in disgust, muttering, "Makes sense, he's buddy-buddy with everyone who follows him. He could easily ask Mr. Weasley to keep an eye on it given his position of power. Not to low, not to high."

"Perfect spy." Luna finished with a small frown, "But…if that was the case then why did Voldemort send Nagini? If that is his spy."

"I don't know. It might have been the other boss I met." Ness countered with a small shrug, "It was coming right at Mr. Weasley with the intent to kill. Maybe it was finally tired of being locked up and reached out for some help."

"Right, it _reached_ out for a green murderous snake." Selvis deadpanned, "The odds of that are 10 to none Earthbound."

"Dude. I've fought living dolls, piles of barf and cranky ladies. I'd believe that it found an snake from the zoo and coxed it over to free it."

"Cranky ladies?! What the hell Earthbound!?"

"I still find fighting the police force a bit more surprising." Luna admitted as Selvis groaned and flopped on his bench in sheer disbelief. Ness started, "I find fighting objects in an illusion of a backward world-,"

"What. The. Hell."

"-More surprising than anything else."

"I give up." Selvis groaned, "Every time I learn something about your adventure. I just get a bigger headache."

"Welcome to my world." Ness dryly replied before focusing on the matter at hand. "What makes no sense to me is that the snake had a _second_ influence floating around. A wizard one, trying to stop it."

"And that's _not_ normal?" Selvis asked his scowl dropping as Ness added, "I think it was Harry somehow."

"…No." Selvis managed as Luna hummed in thought, "That…well…He _has_ had predictions before."

"And he woke up before me. When I left Nagini some wizards were already rushing inside and Ginny was no where to be seen."

"So…Harry was _in_ the _snake's mind._ " Selvis deadpanned as the train came to a slow stop, "Dear lord. I'm going to need more paper for this."

"Maybe a new mind too." Luna offered, giggling as Selvis snapped, "Don't even _joke_ about that." As they relunctly gathered up their things and moved for the train platform. Surprised at how quickly time had slipped through their fingers.

"So many questions…So little time." Luna complained, but it sounded more of a hushed whisper if you didn't glance at her slightly annoyed expression. Ness nodded in agreement and looked around for his mom and sister. His heart performing a violent dive complete with a couple somersaults when he didn't see them _anywhere_ on the platform.

Alright, maybe he was supposed to take the plane back by himself. No biggie. He had done it two years ago. He could do the same now. He just wished someone had told him they would be picking him up when—

"Oh, that _stupid Toad!"_

Selvis and Luna jumped from the murderous amount of venom in his voice as Ness groaned into his hands, "They couldn't tell me what they were doing since she was snooping through my mail! Arrgggh!"

"I'm guessing your folks are late?" Luna asked as Selvis shrugged, "So are mine, we could walk around for a bit."

"In the middle of December?" the looks they gave him were just ironic. As if asking if he _wouldn't_ enjoy a brisk walk around London in the middle of winter. Then again…the snow wasn't _that_ deep compared to American winters, so perhaps walking around wasn't that bad.

"Fine, we'll walk." Ness grumbled, "But I'm finding a payphone."

"I'm finding breakfast." Luna hummed, "Then I'm taking the night bus back."

"That exists?" Selvis asked, glaring down at his luggage with the sudden realization that they were stuck drugging it around for the morning. "Yup." Luna stated, popping the p as she grabbed her things and started off with Selvis grumbling that this was now a bad idea as Ness used his mitted hand to try and find some change for a payphone.

They ended up stopping into a café called Café Oz a small walk away from the station. It served breakfast, light lunches and coffee. It was a nice little place with large windows to give an open feel to the room and the warm smell of coffee and toasted bread.

Luna and Selvis moved to order something while Ness grabbed the payphone outside to call his mom. _"Hello?"_ his heart swelled with relief and joy to hear his mother's voice after so long. "Hey Mom, it's me, Ness!"

 _"Oh! That explains the odd number! I thought you were a random salesman trying his luck from overseas."_

Ah, he pitied the man who accidentally got his father instead of his mother. He had no patience for those kinds of people given his office job. "I'm calling from a payphone outside of this café called Café Oz."

 _"Wondering if we're coming to get you?"_

"Basically."

 _"Oh honey, I wish we were but there's storm warnings. So you might be delayed a day or two."_

Ah, there was the bad news. He _could_ try teleporting home but his luggage was _way_ to heavy since he had brought everything instead of just his clothes. He didn't trust that witch of a teacher to stay out of his things.

 _"But don't worry! I asked Jeff to take you in for a bit!"_

"Jeff?"

 _"Oh, did you forget? Jeff lives near England, in Foggyland, Winters."_

"Foggylands…" Ness frowned and tried to remember where Winters was on that map he had carried around for a bit on his journey to stop Giygas, "Oh yea! It _was_ by England! I remember now."

 _"I guess you forgot since it's been a while, huh?"_

So, it seemed. But…why did remembering Foggylands suddenly feel…wrong? He knew it was _close by_ to London. Or, it _felt_ like that way…even if he didn't remember _even_ seeing London on the world map…What the heck?

 _"I'll go call Jeff and tell him you're at the café, have a good breakfast dear!"_

"Will do! Stay warm!" Ness replied before hanging up and returning to find Luna and Selvis debating in the back of the café. Luna was eating a weird sandwich stuffed bacon and some purplish red sauce with a cup of orange juice while Selvis was enjoying a pasta dish. His fork agitatedly stabbing the air as he spoke.

"Luna. How on _earth_ would PSI beings even _have_ magic to begin with!?" Selvis was saying as Luna calmly argued, "Widow mentioned something about their minds being tampered with, and PSI stems completely from the mind and life experiences. Maybe they tainted it with Magic when they were trying to figure out what they were."

"As Ness has proven, PSI+ Magic is a bad idea! He's a walking basket case!"

"Said basket case can hear you." Ness interrupted, smirking as Selvis banged his leg against the table in surprise, "So who's picking you up?" Luna asked, pushing a simple pork sausage sandwich in his direction as he sat down.

"Jeff, he's the guy who made my baseball bat." Ness replied, "Now what's this about PSI beings having magic."

"Just another one of Luna's crazy theories." Selvis grumbled, rubbing his bruised knee as Luna chipperly replied, "It's possible."

"For PSI beings to be influenced by magic? As if!"

"Well…that _would_ explain Nagini." Ness admitted, his stomach twisting into an uncomfortable knot, "When I attacked her, I mostly attacked the _wizard_ barely touched Nagini to get rid of the influence."

"Hah." Luna cheered as Selvis threw his hands up, "Okay fine! PSI and Magic can affect one another! Hence why Ness used a wizard jinx-,"

"I did what now?"

"Oppungo's a jinx that can summon living creatures or pick up objects in the area and throw them at a target the caster chose." Luna explained, "But it's odd to hear that it sets things on fire and attacks everything."

"Unless Flamma was related to PSI somehow." Selvis pointed out, "That would explain the fire aspect."

"Yea…but not why Sister Mary, a healer had it." Ness mumbled, feeling sick from the idea of magic corrupting PSI or vice-versa. Had that weird painting used it? Were all the attacks used to disrupt the castle life used magic/PSI at the same time? Why? And why did they want to follow _him_.

"But that doesn't explain Fulgar CREPTIUS. I've never heard about a spell like that." Selvis tapped his cup in thought as Luna murmured, "It sounds Latin though…and magic is mostly made up of Latin words."

"I suppose that would explain the lack of Greek symbols." Ness focused on his sandwich, suddenly not hungry as it became clear that wizards had tampered with PSI objects and cursed them to use both magic and Psi. But why let so many roam free? And why were they following _his_ order?

"Fulgar Creptius—it means Lightning Explosion in Latin." Luna and Selvis stiffened as someone joined them at their table. At first Ness was ready to glare at them when he recognized the person in Christmas suit and thick black glasses on the stranger's face as they pulled out a notebook and began writing some notes about the odd attack name.

"What does it do exactly?" Jeff asked, glancing up at Ness who was trying not to laugh at his friend's eager gaze. He forgotten how much Jeff liked puzzles, although it made sense given how long he would stay up in order to repair something broken.

"What the name says, attacks everyone on field with lightning charged explosions. I almost killed someone with it."

"Interesting." Jeff mused, writing it down and putting question marks around how the attack came to be. "Is this a new attack or…?"

"It belongs to someone else, I somehow jumped into a doll called Sister Mary and took her over. She was a support unit with Fulgar CREPITIUS and Oppungo Flamma."

"Oppungo Fire…But she could heal?"

"Yup. Selvis and Luna-,"

"Who?" Jeff looked up and flushed as he realized the other two people sitting across from him. Selvis was looking at him in disbelief and horror as Luna gave him an owlish look. As if asking, "Where did you come from, and why?"

"A-ah. Good morning." Jeff managed, doing his best to ignore Ness as he doubled over and laughed at his friend's demise. "You could have warned me!"

"Nah, this was funnier."

Jeff scowled and adjusted his glasses, "I'm Jeff Andonuts, I attend Snow Wood Boarding School in Foggylands."

"Foggy what now?" Selvis asked, prompting a small frown from Jeff as he wrote something else down, murmuring something about this being an after effect of something.

"Never mind, it's not that important. What is important is how you jumped into a Doll's body." Jeff gave him a look that clearly translated to 'Don't leave anything out or face my ray gun' as Ness sighed and dutifully retold the story.

"So, you met with the 'other boss', saved/attacked Mr. Weasley and gained a snake as your party member?" Jeff stated, his frown deepening when Ness nodded. "This…merely proves my theory as correct."

"What theory?" Luna asked, eagerly leaning forward as Jeff adjusted his glasses, "Well, I asked around a bit to see if… _he_ was still around and got an interesting survey."

"Of?" Ness pressed, dreading the answer as Jeff flipped open his notebook, filled with advance mathematics and machine schematics.

"Those in Snow Wood Boarding School recalled the animals acting usually aggressive around his arrival but don't remember anything else other than them calming down. The Tessie camp don't recall anything out of the ordinary happening during our journey,

"Dr. Andonuts recalls helping us out but not exactly sure why and other variables remember _his_ presence but not when it disappeared." Jeff glanced up from his notebook, his expression solemn. "So far, all I've gather pointed towards our final battle being disrupted and leaving memory blanks in the series of events for those not directly involved. I haven't gotten Paula's numbers but…It points towards having a 50% chance of him either being back or his left-over minions being woken up thanks to a trigger and responding to you since you have his influence."

"And I bet the lullaby makes the numbers jump up a bit." Ness guessed, feeling sick since only a handful of people knew about his lullaby, his great grandparents, his mother, his friends and Giygas.

"Yes. But I'm hoping its merely a fluke." Or he was trying to downplay his fears like a good friend. Ness offered Jeff a shaky smile as Luna and Selvis exchanged looks. Silently trying to understand the hidden meaning in their conversation.

"So…Fluke aside, where do you think Ness was?" Luna asked, trying to shift the conversation back to something they understood.

"Obviously, a location with high security. Beings who were influenced by _him_ were very dangerous and unruly. It makes sense that wizards would want to study and possibly take them apart to see what made them tick."

"So, Ministry of Magic." Selvis deadpanned, "Since that's the only place that could have top notch security _and_ Mr. Weasley."

"That sadly doesn't answer why he was there in the first place though." Luna murmured, "He definitely wasn't there to stop Voldemort from accessing the PSI beings…"

"Well, it sounds like they have an entire section set aside just for things they can't understand then, a mystery location." Jeff mused, the word mystery triggering the memory of buying a book in early fall. Perhaps he and Jeff should take a look at it when they got back…

He really missed home. And things making sense. Jeff and Luna traded theories around for a bit, both getting slightly frustrated on science versus magical lore as Selvis silently watched, enjoying the moment of revenge before Ness suggested they start heading back to the station.

Breakfast hours were nearly over, and he _really_ wanted to head home. "Ah, I'll head back to the Sky Runner 3.0 then." Jeff announced, shoving his hands in the thin pockets on his wind breaker. Clearly used to the chilly and wet weather of London as they walked out of Café Oz.

"The Sky what now?" Selvis asked as Ness nodded and looked around for the alien like ship.

"Sky Runner, it's a device my fa…Dr. Andonuts made and I improved upon to travel across country." Jeff exclaimed looking a little sheepish as he added, "It now has a 98.5 chance of not exploding when landing."

"What."

Ness laughed as Luna and Selvis looked at him in disbelief. Silently asking him if he had ridden in the exploding craft before. "It wasn't that bad."

"Earthbound. WHY." Selvis demanded as Luna shook her head in disbelief, "You are one brave person."

"Truly." Jeff agreed before waving good bye and walking toward a small snow covered park, where he had landed. "All PSI users are insane." Selvis deadpanned once he was sure Jeff was out of ear shot.

"Actually, Jeff is a normal human." Ness clarified, grinning at their wide eyed expressions, "He's just super smart and able to build himself tools to help in battle."

"A muggle. Helped _save the world."_ Selvis spluttered before throwing up his hands and yelling, "America is crazy!" as he walked away. Done with the instantly known as Ness.

"Impressive." Luna hummed, giggling as Selvis disappeared into the crowd, "I never thought muggles could fight using tech-no-logy."

"…Please tell me you stretched that part out to be funny."

"Did I say it wrong?"

"…" Ness face palmed as Luna shrugged, "Anyway, I'll be trying to get some information out of Ginny. If Harry _was_ Nagini then he might have told them something."

"And er, Mr. Weasley…?"

"Of course." Luna offered him a warm smile, "You were only trying to help Ness, it wasn't your fault that you got stuck with unknown attacks."

"Still."

"Still what? How were you supposed to predict being trapped in a doll's body while fighting a murderous snake while dealing with PSTD?" Ness opened his mouth to argue about how he _could_ have handled the situation better but had nothing.

Prompting a grin of victory to appear on Luna's face before they exchanged good bye hugs and parted. Returning to the world they belonged to.

Jeff was waiting in a small patch of dense brush with the Sky Runner, looking a little miffed as he tinkered with a broken object. He jumped when Ness playfully poked him, teasing, "It would kill you not to be a science nerd for a day."

"Says the Baseball champ." Jeff retorted, pushing his glasses up and looking around the empty park.

"Trouble?"

"Possibly…I was getting a lot of strange looks from people in trench coats. But unlike in Threed, no one asked me about the mysterious air craft." Jeff sighed and opened the door, grumbling something about the locals just being weird as they prepared to leave.

He'd forgotten how thrilling it was to see everything shrink in size as the Sky Runner floated high into the air and shot off, turning the small buildings and ant like people into murky blurs as it started to lightly snow.

"So…how was school?" Jeff asked as the ground below them turned a milky white, the snow growing as they neared Foggylands.

"Terrible." Ness deadpanned, "The only reason I survived was because I found a magical room designed to suit my needs."

"So, a sanctuary?"

"…Now that you mention it, yes."

"Interesting. I wonder if magic and PSI are more intertwined than we first thought."

"I don't think so. Or rather, I hope not. Magic and PSI attacks seem incredibly dangerous." He shuddered at the exploding candles prank. If that had been magic _and_ PSI, then what else could it blow up? People? Objects?

Jeff's sudden hum snapped him out of his thoughts as he looked at the boy, "What? Did you think of something?"

"Merely wondering something,"

"About?"

"Well, you know how Poo's people are all PSI users, right?"

"Yea, Dalaam is naturally suited for those for PSI or something."

"So, if wizards abhor PSI, then why haven't they taken any actions against Poo's people?"

Huh…that was a good question, he hadn't read anything about a war against Dalaam. And Poo had never mentioned it either. Actually, he doubted Poo even _knew_ about wizards given how he had just started worrying about his safety at Hogwarts.

"That's…really weird."

"Another thing, when I looked at my map I couldn't find a single place called London."

What.

"I had to ask around for a bit before someone _from_ London informed me it was the capital of England."

"And Selvis and Luna never heard of Foggyland before…"

"Right, which means that something truly _has_ happened to impact the time and space continuity for two major locations to be unheard of by the other party."

"Actually…It took me a while to remember you lived around England, I don't know why but…"

"Perhaps it's because you've been the most effected thanks to your constant interactions with wizards?"

"…Maybe." Ness leaned back and adjusted his hat, truly wondering what on earth was going on with their world as the Sky Runner hummed and bounced up and down in a gentle rhythm.

Just how many mysteries _were_ there? Wait…Mysteries? "Oh yea!" Jeff almost sent the Sky Runner into space as Ness dug around in his bag, "I found a book at Hogwarts! About this department in the Ministry related to mysteries or something!"

"And it was important enough to nearly make me crash the Sky Runner?" Jeff dryly asked, face palming when Ness shot him a blank look. "Never mind, what mystery department are they talking about?"

"Er…"

"You _have_ read the book. Right?"

"…I might have gotten distracted by blood thirsty unicorns."

"…Right. Wizards." Jeff said after a long moment of silence.

"You can blame Luna for that interesting idea."

"Great, now read the book. It might answer some questions."

"Right, right." The book wasn't very informative. Mostly a handful of theories and loose speculations about the mystery department. Some theories talked about holding legendary beings or monsters in the spiraling hallways of the Mystery Department.

Others talked about cursed objects or powerful artifacts that could completely upset the order of balance. Some talked about the people who worked there, the Unspeakables who had their mouths sewn shut in order to protect the secrets or horrors they had seen at work.

There was one theory that talked about the Ministry holding an alien like being behind the worlds most powerful magic and counter charms to ensure it's capture. That stood out a bit, but how on earth would some wizards be able to capture an alien?

"I bet that's the most real theory in that book." Jeff grumbled as the Sky Runner slowed and _landed_ in front of a small mansion on a hill near Doctor Andonut's lab.

"Make yourself at home." Jeff explained, pushing the doors open to reveal an oddly empty foyer with science notes and paintings lining the walls, "Dr. Andonuts's in his lab. As usual."

"Does he live there or something?" Ness asked, kicking his shoes off and following Jeff into the living room.

"Yes." Ness flinched from the edge in Jeff's voice but didn't comment on it. Instead, he focused on dragging Jeff away from his little workshop corner to play video games. Using the fact that it was winter break and that they needed to relax to combat Jeff's protests of working on something to possibly hinder wizards.

"You know. It would be _nice_ to actually win a round." Jeff dryly commented as his character flew off the map and died. "It's not _that_ hard." Ness retorted, laughing as Jeff tried to kick him off the couch to gain a point without the fear of losing a stock.

He failed and muttered a bunch of angry science formulas under his breath as Ness tried not to double over laughing. "Dude, it's seriously _not that hard-,_

"Ness. Shut up."

"I'm just saying-,"

"I will win."

"…I think showing you how to play Smash was a bad idea."

"Very."

* * *

 **Alright, random question. But did ANYONE other than me believe that Nagini was albino? Or some other color besides _green?_ Since I've always remembered or pictured Nagini as a white snake back when I was happily rereading the books as a kid. It just made sense for Voldemort, the big bad to have this super rare snake to be his BFF and loyal partner in crime instead of this everyday colored snake be Nagini. **

**It threw me for a loop since I stumbled upon a news article about the backlash of Nagini's human actress- That is so weird to think about since it's just out of NOWHERE for me to understand despite never caring for the movies- being played by an Asian actress and someone joked about how JK changed something about a character to make it cannon, prompting me to check the wiki, confirm with my mom who read the series as well, then be salty that Nagini was just a boring green snake from possibly the jungle. - I like Albino Nagini.**

 **Also, fun fact. Cafe Oz is a real place located almost right next to the Kings Cross Station, I did research! :D And it actually looks pretty okay despite my dislike for getting anything other than pancakes for breakfast.**

 **HelentheMoon: I blew something up! Twice! Now if only Mr. Weasley hadn't gotten in the way... ;-**

 **M1nhTre37: Sadly, Porky won't be showing since he's busy preparing for his much more important role in another time, but something else is appearing! Dun dun dun!  
**

 **Pickledpopcorn:'returns bow with a curtsy' Thanks! And I'm vaguely surprised that I'm even at 33 continuous chapters since a lot of my stories- that aren't for random drabbles or fun- usually end under 27 chapters. Plus thanks again for making this your favorite story despite me being horrible with constant updates despite me having a lot of free time...which I usually spend writing or crafting other stories and art projects that may never be shared with the public! ^-^;; I need to work on that...  
**


	35. Chapter 35 A 'Joyful' Christmas

Harry wasn't sure what was worse. Being forced to wait in Grimmauld Place until the news of Mr. Weasley being attacked and put in the hospital or the never-ending feeling of being sluggish and disoriented.

Every mental command—Pick up his trunk, grab Hedwig, try and study a book to pass the time—was interrupted by a static filled fog that either erased the action or made it last for an _eternity._

And he didn't understand _why_ he felt like this. That doll or rather… _Ness_ surely couldn't have hurt _him_ a hundred, maybe thousands of miles away from the Ministry of Magic…could it?

PSI was a strange and frightful thing to think about. So, Harry shoved it out of his mind the best he could as he sat in his room, trying to ignore the static as he awaited the dreaded stampede of worried friends. After Sirius had informed that they needed to wait to avoid suspicion Harry had booked it into an empty room the best he could to try and clear his mind.

Not in the mood to try and work pass his somehow numb tongue to explain what had happened to the others yet. But of course, time waited for no man, and five minutes after struggling to do mundane tasks and push past the static the door flew open.

Revealing his worried friends looking at him, desperate to learn what had happened to his father. Apparently, the static interrupted his hearing a bit as well, or perhaps that was the bubbling guilt stewing inside him making it hard to process their desire to learn what had happened, how he had nearly attacked Mr. Weasley and had to be stopped by Ness who then blasted the man in the process.

He wasn't sure if this was on purpose or not, Ness had great control over his PSI…At least he hoped the boy did, so for the attack to go haywire seemed unlikely. Plus, he had been trying to get Mr. Weasley to leave for his own safety before the mind-numbing attack had gone off. So perhaps it was an accident.

 _"One that doesn't excuse your actions."_ An evil little voice hissed as Harry forced himself to focus. He didn't have time to wallow in guilt, he needed to explain what had happened before it grew to hard to talk. It had been an embarrassing disaster when he tried to inform Dumbledore what had happened when he heard himself stumbling over words and letters.

With a dry swallow Harry looked up from his tingling hands, wondering how he could explain the story properly. "Right, so, I was dreaming about this dark hallway. And your dad was standing in front of this door for some reason. Maybe even 'uarding it."

"'Uarding?" Ron repeated, scowling when Ginny shushed him and gestured for Harry to continue, the Weasleys' sitting on the other bed or on a forgotten chair as Harry spoke.

"He dozed off and this 'nake came out of the shadows—it was going to murder him and-,"

"So, the snake got him?" George interrupted, frowning when Harry shook his head the best he could. "N-no, the snake never touched him. A doll attacked him—'ccidently."

There was a long moment of silence as they processed this. Fred and George exchanged looks of disbelief while Ron looked torn between laughing and getting angry. Ginny just looked sick.

Did she know about the doll? Or…did she know something related to it? He made a mental note to ask her about it later as Ron exploded, "Is this a joke!?"

"Ron-," Ginny tried reaching out for her older brother when Ron waved her off, "How could a _doll_ attack and nearly _kill_ dad?!"

"It didn't 'ean 'oo!" Harry replied, raising his voice a little to be heard, or maybe to feel more in control of the situation that was rapidly spiraling out of control. "It 'as behind the door Mr. Weasley was guarding—I think it was trying to leave and didn't realize he was there since they looked at each in surprise but the 'oll' _saved_ him!"

"Then why is dad in the hospital?" Fred asked, his voice oddly empty. "You said it yourself, he nearly died."

"The doll, it spotted the snake before Mr. Weasley had a chance 'oo and yelled at him to get to safety before attacking it, they wrestled for a bit and the doll yelled at him to get behind the door before it unleashed this 'eird electric 'ttack with explosions."

"And Dad got caught up in the blast since it happened so fast." Ginny guessed, her eyes tearing up as Harry nodded. "A doll. A blooming-," Ron started when Harry nervously added, "I…I think 'Ess was somehow controlling the doll."

Chilling the room as Ginny stiffened then relaxed, possibly understanding how he could have done it as Fred and George blinked in shock before George spoke up, "Ness, as in Ness Earthbound, the boy who tried to protect that git Malfoy?"

"He also tried to prevent you three from getting booted off the Qudditch team." Ginny sharply reminded them, making her stance clear in the brewing storm as Fred, George and Harry grimaced at the memory of Ness entering some sort of shock induced coma after being blasted by Madam Pomfrey by accident.

"Er, right, 'Ess was somehow controlling the doll—I think he had a dream as well—since it knew who Mr. Weasley was."

"Possibly…but why would you both dream about the same thing?" Ginny wondered as Fred and George exchanged frowns, wondering the same thing as Ron fumed. "Probably to cause more trouble that's why."

"Wha-," Ginny started when George cut her off, "What are you talking about Ron? If anything Ness seems to be preventing it." Maybe it was the shock of the news effecting Ron as the boy gave a bitter scoff, oozing with anger and maybe even hate towards Ness.

"This just proves that Ness is behind the attacks at the castle!"

"No, it doesn't-," Ginny started a scowl starting to form as Ron snapped, "Yes it does! He can control _dolls_! What's stopping him from controlling the suits of armor or the paintings!"

"His sense of morality!"

This was bad. Harry tried to stand up, pull Ron back and maybe calm him down a bit—maybe even confess that _he_ was the snake and desired to murder their father but his body. Wouldn't. _Move._

Fred and George were stunned as the youngest Weasley's bickering rose in volume, the sound cutting in and out as Ginny defended Ness from Ron's sadly valid accusations.

Ness was a PSI user, he had been proven to disrupt the area and wizards around him, even if it was completely by accident. He had outright _stated_ that he wished Hogwarts would close down and that he didn't view Dumbledore in a positive light, plus Professor Kale had warned them that Ness had started a chain reaction, a deadly one as Hogwarts battled foes inside and outside of the school.

Everything they had learned over the year, _experienced_ this far all pointed at Ness being the culprit, either indirect or directly. The only sliver lining to defend the boy with was how he still helped them out despite being on opposite sides of opinion, worlds and roles.

Was…Was Ness _really_ behind this? A loud jarring yelp of pain jerked him out of his static filled stupor. Bringing him back to reality as he looked up, his mouth already dropping to see Ron staggering away from Ginny, holding his now black eye as he looked at his little sister in surprise.

Ginny Weasley. The once shy and timid girl who had braved being Tom Riddle's Pawn and had grew into a motherly—yet fiery defender—had just punched her brother. Her face twisted into look of pure fury that would have been a perfect—no, an even _better_ rage expression than Ms. Weasley's if it wasn't for the near invisible tears slipping down her face and her shaking shoulders as she fought to hold back the dam of tears waiting to break free.

Her hand was tightly balled into a fist, trembling as she pulled her arm back breathing deeply to try and collect herself before she spoke. They were all sure she would be yelling or screaming, but the cold, shaking tone she took made them recoil.

Fred and George in shame at not being able to break up to two people they'd never even dream of seeing arguing this badly and Harry at omitting the fact that _he_ was guilty to and had been affected by Ness's attack as well, maybe proving that it wasn't Ness's intention to blast Mr. Weasley but protect him.

"You, pig headed idiot. You don't even _know_ Ness, you don't know that he's been terrified of his friends and family _dying_ because he's been dragged into Hogwarts, you don't know that Ness was the _spearhead_ in taking down Barty Jr., you don't know that Ness was _barely_ at 100% but _still_ doing his best to be kind and polite to everyone after nearly _dying_ to protect his loved ones, you don't know that Ness is unable to use let alone _look_ at his right hand _or_ that he can't stand the presence of powerful magic or simple spells. You. Know. _Nothing_ about him."

"The evidence-," Ron started his eyes widening as Ginny lunged forward to punch him again only to be pulled back by George as Fred grabbed Ron, pulling him aside to ensure that Ginny didn't slip free and try again as she moved onto yelling, "You know BLOODY NOTHING! You don't even TRY to understand what he's been going through! Just like how you ignored _Harry's—YOU'RE BEST BLOOMING FRIEND-_ honest statement of not entering the cup! Even now! You're ignoring the fact that HARRY'S been attacked by Ness as well! TWICE NOW! And yet you don't see _HIM_ pointing fingers at a boy's who been suffering maybe even MORE than he has for making a small mistake! NOW DO WE?!"

"Harry's been attacked?" George asked, recoiling as Ginny tried to stomp on his foot, "Ow! It's an honest question!"

"Yes!" she snapped after a few more futile attempts to stomp on his foot, "Once at the graveyard and now at where ever Dad was guarding! It's why he's slurring and twitching so much! He's been affected by a status effect!"

"It's true." Harry meekly offered as all eyes focused on him again, flinching as the statement moved to rekindle Ron's anger. "Great! So Ness is lashing out at _everyone_ we know and care about—,"

"I was the snake."

They looked at him, Ron's glint of vindicated anger fading as he looked at Harry as if he was some alien who didn't belong on earth. "You—you were-," Ginny started before she trailed off and mumbled a pity laced, "Oh _Harry_."

"I was the snake." Harry repeated, feeling sick to his stomach as he pressed on, "I wanted to attack him, _kill_ him even. It was just—overriding all of my thoughts. If Ness hadn't blasted me, then Mr. Weasley might have actually died before we could have gotten help."

Fred and George turned ash white, mumbling, "Right, it took you a while to get out of the dorms…" in horror as Ron looked at him. His anger replaced with a blank look.

"Is—is this a joke?" Ron finally asked, swallowing heavily when Harry shook his head no. "I was the snake." He simply said, "Ness…Ness was the hero."

"Like HELL-,"

"Shut up pig!"

Harry tuned out after that, their yelling and attempts to murder one another drowned out by angry static. When he came back to a static free world Sirius was the only other person in the room.

"Where-," Harry started when Sirius merely shook his head no, "Fred's with Ron, trying to make him see a bit of sense, or maybe calm down at being furiously angry at you." That was to be expected. Harry moved to intently study the floor as his Godfather continued, "And Ginny, is taking a long walk with George to try and find a payphone."

"A…A payphone?"

"She wants to call a friend, calm down a bit and maybe not murder Ron." Sirius explained gently pushing a cup of hot coco into his numb hands. "I heard the yelling, but I didn't think much of it until I heard someone trying use a spell to blow someone's head off."

"Ah." Was all he could manage as he took a forceful sip of the hot coco, barely registering that it was freshly made and burning his numb tongue. They sat there for a moment, taking in the night sky, or maybe early morning given the small hints of light creeping up onto the dark sky.

The sun had just began creeping over the horizon when Sirius spoke up, "It wasn't your fault." Prompting Harry to look at him in disbelief.

"It's not." Sirius insisted, but his tone was gently as he watched the pale pink sky lighten, "Did you want to attack Mr. Weasley?"

Heavens no! Why would he want to attack the man who was practically an uncle to him!? The answer must have been written on his face since Sirius nodded, "Then there you have it, it's not your fault. You were just somehow roped into the wrong place at the wrong time…for some reason."

 _"Sort of like Ness."_ Harry grimly thought, his thoughts bouncing back to Ginny and Ron's argument, how Ron had been _right._ Ness had the motive, the power and skill to possibly—no, absolutely shut down Hogwarts, and no one would be able to stop him since no one knew what he was truly capable of.

The gears had been turned on, all because he hadn't been careful and warier about Voldemort's schemes. Allowing Ness to be pushed to his breaking point of self control.

 _"All because of me."_

"If anything, you helped _save_ the day." Harry looked up at his Godfather in disbelief earning a scowl and a curt, "For gods sake, you're even worse than _James_ when he's been proven that he _can't_ take care of everything by himself."

"How did I-,"

"Who woke up and alerted Dumbledore to Arthur's injury?"

"Me but-,"

"That's right, _you._ Not Ness, _you_."

"But he forced me to wake up!"

"How?"

"He er, somehow blasted me with this electric explosion to stop the snake, forcing me awake." Harry admitted, cringing as his hand twitched a bit, "If he hadn't done that then I might not have made it in time."

"But you did." Sirius argued, "Now stop beating yourself up and pick a different topic." Harry looked at him in disbelief before he swallowed his next degrading compliant and asked about how Ginny and Ron looked as they were separated.

"Awful." Sirius deadpanned with a small cringe, "Ginny can make a _cat_ jealous with the damage she left behind and Ron was ready to strangle her." He paled as Sirius recounted the black eye, bruised cheek and bleeding nail thin gashes Ron had and the crooked nose, bruised stomach and an even worse black eye than the Ginny got.

"What were they even fighting about?" Sirius asked after a moment for Harry to process the horrifying information, "I thought it was about you being the snake and Ness being there as well but…"

Harry looked at Sirius for a long, long moment before he sighed, feeling sick as he explained how he and Ness had gotten into the argument- something he had originally glossed over when he told Sirius before it had gotten impossible to contact him—which had Ness accusing Dumbledore for being a rotten headmaster and wishing that Hogwarts would close down, then about how the school hauntings were random and seemed to sometimes help him and Ness out.

Like during his first and last detention with Ness before the paintings had started screaming, how Ness was still trying to be friendly to everyone and had helped them set up the Defensive Aegis and balance out the objections of having Slytherin classmates learning with them.

Then how Ness had jumped to protect Malfoy after the boy had willingly provoked them during their Gryffindor V.S Slytherin Quidditch match, severally damaging Ron's confidence and pride as he, Fred and George were banned from Quidditch for the rest of their lives before wrapping it up with how Ness had seemingly attacked Mr. Weasley while trying to protect him from the snake, leading to the argument of Ron accusing Ness of purposely attacking Hogwarts and attacking their dad and Ginny angrily defending him by bringing up how much Ness had suffered for the past year and accusing Ron of being a horrible friend.

When he finished it was at least 4:30 and Sirius was just…looking at him, trying to comprehend the emotional roller coaster the two had been on before crashing into the station just in time for Christmas.

"Well then." Sirius finally said, "You've all had a…busy year."

"Half year." Harry corrected, earning a mumble curse from the older man as he tried to figure out what to say. He didn't get a chance to say anything since someone screamed.

Jolting them to their feet and forcing them to hurry downstairs to see Mrs. Weasley, Profess—sorry, Lupin, Fred and Ron in the kitchen. Fred looked sick as Ron merely looked at the fridge as they stood by the entryway. Clearly trying to replace an ice bag as Mrs. Weasley looked at her son in horror while Lupin tried to calm her down.

"Right," Sirius grunted, "Lupin walked in a couple minutes after George and Ginny headed out for a walk. Wanted to wait for Molly to prepare her for the news."

"What on earth happened to you?!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, almost dropping her tea cup in shock as Ron inched back, abandoning his need for ice as he mumbled, "Just an argument."

"With who?! Fred!" Fred cringed and tried to laugh it off, "Sorry Mum, Ron and I got into a disagreement and it er-," his attempt to cover for Ginny blew up in his face as she and George returned, Ginny actually limping and mumbling curses under her breath as George tried to lighten the mood, joking, "Well, maybe next time you can beat the payphone."

"Ginny?!" They jumped as the Ms. Weasley connected the dots, promptly screeching, "You two got in a fight!? What on earth—and while your father is—What is going on here?!"

Ginny pointedly looked at Lupin's cup and mumbled, "Just a disagreement with Ron."

 _"More like attempted murder."_ Harry thought, wondering if Sirius was thinking the same thing as the man looked up at the ceiling to hide his expression.

"A disagreement that leaves you _both_ bruised and bloodied?!" Ms. Weasley pursed her lips, looking hysterical before she collected herself, pointing at the two empty chairs across from her, "Both of you. Now."

Ginny and Ron flinched, murderous anger flickering in their eyes as they debated obeying their mother, or doing the smart thing and resuming avoiding one another for perhaps another hour. Or a year. But the barbed warning of, "Do I need to repeat myself?" quickly answered their debate.

"No." Well, Ron's debate since he started to slowly shuffle forward only to stop. His eyes wide at _Ginny's active defiance of their mother._ Harry was now wondering if that spell Ness used affected everyone, leaving them crippled with opposite day symptoms as Mrs. Weasley blinked in surprise.

Repeating Ginny's answer in disbelief, "I'm sorry, but did you just say-," she started when George and Fred stepped forward, "We'll explain Mom," Fred started, "Just calm down." George pleaded.

"I'm going up to my room-," Ginny started when Mrs. Weasley shot her a glare that made her hesitate, and the icy statement of, "You are not going _anywhere_ until I get to the bottom of this." Made her stay.

"Molly, it's been a rough night, maybe we should let Ginny, Ron and Harry turn in for the night?" Lupin asked, quickly sensing that this was much worse than a simple sibling spat, "Harry especially since he's been injured." Ginny added earning a groan of, "I was hoping I was wrong." From Sirius who had noticed his weird flinches and inability to gauge temperature at the moment.

"How was Harry injured?!" Mrs. Weasley demanded as George tried to start explaining. "I was the snake." Or try to as everything went to hell in a hand basket as Ginny groaned, "Oh dear."

While Fred and George exchanged weary looks and Ron bit his lip, almost drawing blood as Mrs. Weasley screeched, "WHAT?!"

Lupin merely put his tea cup down and offered through the chaos that they should have breakfast. Which was another mess as Ginny and Ron purposely sat as far away from one another as they could and not be in leg's reach to kick one another. Creating a fiery tension between the two as Fred and George silently ate some ham and eggs.

It was a godsend when Sirius bluntly explained what had happened and ended the conversation with, "And now we're going to bed so we can greet Arthur with _something_ close to a smile."

Mrs. Weasley opened her mouth, maybe to scold Ginny and Ron or take a side but swiftly closed it. "Right, bed everyone."

Morning, or rather afternoon came far to early for Harry's liking as he sluggishly moved to put on a clean set of clothes, mentally cursing whatever was affecting him as he tried to pull on his sock only to be interrupted by a burst of static.

Mrs. Weasley's frantic, "Come on! Up and at em! We're going to be late!" didn't help either, cutting off hastily made commands to move faster and creating more bursts of static. After getting dressed _(Somehow._ ) the fog returned, blotting out the tense and down right uncomfortable car ride to the hospital.

The cold tension in the room morphing into ice as the realization that _Mr. Weasley was in the hospital_ dawned on them. Growing worse as Mrs. Weasley spoke to the nurse to see her husband, explaining that they were family as the tired young woman's face shifting into a pinched expression of pity before she masked it with a neutral expression.

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Weasley is in the middle of being prepared for…" the woman trailed for a bit before she sighed and knit her hands together. "Miss. Your husband is being prepared to be sent to a muggle hospital to get better treatment than what the healers here are prepared for."

A bucket of ice-cold water fell on their heads, muffling the world as the statics increased in bursts. "How bad is it?" Fred asked, trying to support his mother who was just looking at her, trying to process that her husband was badly injured that not even _magic_ could heal him.

"Well, by our standers, not that bad. But…" she hesitated before changing the topic, "He's currently on the fourth floor for Spell damage. Fin Tiro is currently tending to him."

"Thank you." Lupin said, gently ushering them up to the fourth floor, past the magically ill and bustling doctors— _healers_ carrying something around. The fog had returned with a vengeance and was refusing to let up, probably from the shock just crashing down him. That happened to people who endured a traumatic episode or something, right?

They went through shock and drifted through events until something grounded them. He was a little surprised that he hadn't gone through it earlier…or maybe he had but Sirius hadn't noticed in his haste to figure out what was going on and maybe fix it.

"Harry and I will wait out here Molly," Lupin said, gently pushing her forward with a small smile, "Family first."

"R-right." She mumbled, squaring her shoulders and marching inside with the others trailing behind her like ducks. He jumped when he felt Lupin gently squeeze his shoulder, "Doing alright Harry?"

He managed a smart uh as they sat down on a lumpy waiting bench outside the Spell Damage Ward, waiting for the okay to see Mr. Weasley.

"…No." Harry finally decided, "I'm…not okay."

"Sirius told me you've have an…interesting school year thus far." Harry swallowed a bitter laugh as he flinched from a burst of static. "More like chaotic. Nothing makes sense now, safe is dangerous and I'm suddenly the failure of a chosen hero."

"Now what makes you say that?"

Oh, I don't know. Maybe because thus far _Ness_ was being a better hero? A better leader? He didn't want to acknowledge it, first perceiving Ness's constant appearances and helpful demeanor as just that, a trait from America and the lingering burden of having to play hero or something when he was entering his preteens.

But now? Ness was in charge, _he_ saved Sirius, _he_ caught Mad Eyed Moody, _he_ protected him from Voldemort, _he_ ensured that the DA wasn't falling apart and now, he had _saved_ Mr. Weasley.

While he had been two steps behind, as usual. Stumbling around like a naïve idiot unburdened by life and seemingly Voldemort's return.

"Why." Harry finally managed, pushing past the self loathing and frustration as he looked up at Lupin, "Why is that _I'm_ the chosen one when _Ness_ is busy being the _real_ hero?"

Lupin paused seemingly surprised by this topic but quickly brushed it aside, "Perhaps because he already _was_ a hero." He answered, "Harry, you're 15. You aren't going to save the world-,"

"I am. Since I'm the boy who lived, the boy Voldemort wants to kill." That meant they were destined to fight or something, right? He didn't want to believe in the stars, but given how Ness had arrived here on Dumbledore's orders, to protect him from a future threat…

"True, true. But why are you comparing yourself to Ness so much?" Lupin asked, "I get it, he's the outsider who's been making names and getting everyone on his side. But what does this have to do with you?"

Everything he wanted to answer, but he knew that wasn't true. Before the Goblet of Fire, Harry wouldn't have even Ness's name let alone where he came from. He was just Ginny's friend who was possibly here to protect him or something.

But now? What _was_ Ness?

A monster, an inhuman being blessed with terrifying powers that no one could handle? Someone posing as his friend? Although now that he thought about it they were really never friends…

"Perhaps you're so hang up on him because he's your anti." He jumped and looked up to see a young woman with bright blue hair in childish pigtails carrying a basket of fluffy teddy bears with big colorful bow ties around their necks.

She sort of looked a toy herself given her frilly but somehow professional dress with a white coat resting over it that stood out among the patients and healers. "And you are…?" Lupin asked, growing a little defensive as the woman merely blinked at them then caught herself.

"Whoopies daisy! Sorry about that loves!" the woman struck a cutesy pose and chirped, "I'm Maybell Jones! Volunteer for long term injuries and the tea shop upstairs!" she flashed a name badge at them and added, "Also a muggle doctor consultant." Prompting her to flash a muggle doctor license at them before she put them in the basket.

"I see…You're helping Tiro then?" Lupin questioned, relaxing a bit.

"Yup! Mr. Weasley…ah…" Maybell grimaced then changed the topic, swiftly moving onto Harry, "Say! Have you been hit with an electric spell?"

"'r," he managed before the woman hummed, "You have! You have! Hold on a second!" she rummaged through the basket and pulled out a lollipop, "It's a Secret Herb Lollipop! Great for clearing the mind!"

"Wait-," he didn't get a chance to finish as Maybell unwrapped the herb green treat and shoved it in his mouth. Filling it with a bitter and almost undefinable taste as he worked his numb tongue around it. Surprised to feel the numbness fade away almost immediately.

"Now, about this Ness dude, he's your anti since he's _suuuuper_ different than you but has a lot of your core features!" Well, not really but he could see why Maybell could jump to that conclusion. "I suppose so." Harry mumbled out, grimacing as the woman joined them on the couch with a bounce and rambled on.

"So, he's like your Anti Sonic! Evil Sonic! But he's not evil and is just, ten times better than you at your favorite hobbies or daily activities!"

Better at being a leader? Check, better at keeping the peace? Check, outright dislikes Hogwarts? Check.

"But you can't beat yourself up about!" Maybell exclaimed her eyes burning with fiery determination, "You just have to be your own person! Separate yourself from him and stand out as who _you_ want to be!"

"You're…really passionate about this." Lupin noted with a small frown. Maybell gave an energetic nod, "Oh of course! It's like issue 11 of Sonic the Hedgehog being played out before me! Granted I'm missing a lot of the back story but still!"

Lupin gave an unamused, "Uh huh." As Maybell grabbed Harry's hands, "So don't give up kiddo! Just because this kid is your anti doesn't mean it's the end of the world! No one can take your spot at being the popular kid at school!"

"Uh… Thanks." Harry managed as Maybell got up and fixed her pig tail holders, "Now if you excuse me! I'm off to break some bad news!" her demeanor changed, growing a more serious as she walked forward, only pausing to glance back at them, "Say, you wouldn't happen to be with the Weasleys…would you?"

"We are." Lupin answered, frowning nervously as Maybell glanced at the door then back at them, "Is that a problem…?"

"No, come with me please." They exchanged a wary expression before they reluctantly followed the once bouncy woman into the room. Harry taking a deep breath through his teeth as he saw one bed with curtains drawn around it.

A private ward. Which meant that Mr. Weasley was in terrible condition and needed to be isolated in the empty white room. A tall slender man wearing deep green robes was trying desperately to placate Mrs. Weasley who looked ready to strangle the man as he stressed that he needed to wait for a consulate to properly explain what had happened.

"Apologies for being late, I was talking to some troubled visitors." Maybell said, pulling a clipboard out of her basket of seemingly endless goodies as she approached the curtained bed and the Weasley family.

"And you are?" Mrs. Weasley asked, her tone irritated and frustrated as Maybell coolly studied them before flashing a doctor's id that muggles usually wore towards them, "Maybell Jones, Muggle Doctor who's studied in **Emergency Medicine Specialist." She placed the id on her coat before checking her clipboard.**

"Now, I believe your asking about the decision to move Mr. Weasley to a muggle hospital, preferably HealthSouth New England Rehabilitation Hospital after his treatment is taken care of."

"Rehabilitation?" Fred repeated, looking sick as George snapped, "What does that mean?! Why does Dad even _need_ Muggle care?!"

"Simple, the doctors—sorry, _healers_ can't heal him with magic. We'll need Muggle ways to take care of the damage." An icy chill settled on the room, sucking the air out of their lungs as Lupin stepped forward, steadying Mrs. Weasley who looked ready to fall over in shock and horror.

"Jones, could you elaborate on the damage?" Maybell—or maybe Jones given how different the woman had suddenly become—looked at Lupin then at Mrs. Weasley, "Are you ready to hear the damage-,"

"For gods sake _yes!"_ Mrs. Weasley all but screamed, "What happened to my husband!?"

Jones cleared her throat and began reading from the clipboard aloud, "After being found at 12:34, December 24 in the Ministry forbidden section, basic treatment was applied to the various amounts of electrical burns and shallow breathing indicting an internal broken bone. Intern healers and on sight healers found that the basic stabilizing potions they brought were non-effective and supposedly made it worse. Forcing them to use flimsy basic care until they returned to the hospital. There, it was found that Mr. Weasley was supposedly hit by a lightning bolt chest down and explosions, leaving third degree burns on his chest and torso and explosive marks and scaring on his arms and legs. His head was oddly clean of wounds.

"From there it was confirmed that magical treatment wouldn't be effective, the only thing working after Mr. Weasley woke up around 5:31 AM and confirming that he was having a hard time talking, processing information and struggling to move his fingers and hands was oddly American magical lollipops treated with muggle herbs to cure small amounts of paralysis and give energy boosts to the user.

"Thus far, we have covered his burns with band aids dipped in burn medicine to alleviate the pain, but until we can get an x-ray and Mr. Weasley in a stable and coherent state, the healers can't do anything else." Jones looked up to a shell-shocked room, finishing with a curt, "These are the reasons why Mr. Weasley requires a muggle hospital and possibly, rehabilitation therapy."

"Therapy?" Ron echoed, "H-hold on, he isn't going to be good as new?" Jones pressed her lips together, as if holding back a remark as Tiro took over with a small cough, his expression laced with pity and shame.

"Sadly young man, he's going to be lucky to get back to 65% in terms of health. Muggles don't have sure fire cures and often deal with a lot of hit or miss health cases. From what Jones has informed me, it'll be a miracle that Mr. Weasley isn't diagnosed with having strokes and require constant help from the amount of inhuman damage he's suffered. His nerves may be severally damaged and his muscles might lock up at random times, preventing him from walking."

"And that's considering that the tests the Muggles run on him are 100% successful." Jones added, her face devoid of any emotion as she spoke, "We've never had a wizard gone into muggle care, at least not for something this serve. They may have trouble finding the damage and causes behind it since he was attacked with an odd form of magic."

There was a muffled feminine sob from somewhere, maybe Mrs. Weasley since Ginny was just looking ahead, not seeing anything as Jones spoke.

"So, all in all, 50/50 chance that Mr. Weasley is close to recovering but better than the 0/10 chances he has here at St. Mungos." Jones finished placing the clipboard on the table along with a giant fluffy teddy bear. "Any more questions?"

No, that was an obvious answer as they looked at Mr. Weasley in quiet shock and horror. Jones walked out after that, leaving Tiro and Lupin to gently assure Mrs. Weasley that it was going to be alright, that the man was lucky to be alive from his 'dangerous' job as they just watched. Processing the information Jones had bluntly dumped on them.

Not beating around the bush to ensure that the pure-blooded wizards got the message. Magic was useless in this situation. Only time and muggle care would help now.

A sharp bang ripped everyone away from the horrified thoughts of not being able to do anything, to entrust their loved one to muggles who might not fare better than the healers, as a multicolored blur rushed into the room.

Tonks his mind supplied as the young woman doubled over, breathing hard and oblivious to the tense air in the room, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it earlier! I was caught up with work and wanted to accompany you to-,"

"Tonks." Lupin interrupted, gesturing around the room as Tonks looked up, her voice dying as she took in the somber mood. "Oh…it's that-," she cut herself off as Mrs. Weasley stiffly turned to Fred and George, her voice a strangled whisper, "Boys, why don't you go up to the café, get some tea." The order clearly for all of them as they numbly nodded.

"Do you want anything?" Harry asked, feeling like an outsider as he stepped into the hallway. Into a different world as the warmth returned.

"No." she rasped, barely able to stop herself from bursting into tears as Harry closed the door. His stomach twisted into violent knots as they headed up to the fifth floor for some lunch.

Or to pretend to get some lunch. No one was hungry, not after the bombshell Jones had dropped on them. And yet here they were, sitting the café drinking cold cups of tea as they listened to worried family members mutter and nibble on cookies and brownies. A small handful of people being upbeat and lively as they traded warm but quiet "Merry Christmas!" around.

"Merry Christmas." Harry looked up from his still cup of earl grey tea, grimacing as Ron sneered, "Yea, merry Christmas to everyone but us."

"Ron…" George tried, looking torn between bringing up the obvious, 'At least he's still alive' or agreeing with him as Ginny took a sip from her tea cup. Her lips a fiery white as she held back whatever comment she had.

"This is all that bloody git's fault." Ron went on, struggling to keep his voice down as Ginny's grip around her cup tightened, "If he hadn't come to Hogwarts—if he hadn't attacked dad!-,"

"Ron, we don't know for sure what happened." Harry tried, swallowing a bitter pill that Ron was right, if Ness hadn't come to Hogwarts then-…Then what? Ness had managed to help save the day, if he hadn't shown up…would he still be alive? Using the portkey to head back to Hogwarts?

"You _saw_ what happened!" Ron hissed, "You saw him attack dad and-,"

"I think Ness healed him." Ron stopped and glared at Ginny, who was looking at her cup, " _That's_ why magic won't work. Ness got there first before he had to leave."

"And you know this _how_?" Ron demanded, "Did your _boyfriend-_ ,"

"Harry." Harry blinked and dumbly pointed at himself, "Me? What did I do?"

"You aren't flinching or struggling to talk. Doctor Jones gave you something, didn't she?"

"…Yea, this herb lollipop."

"She mentioned that the closest thing to magic that would work was an American wizard lollipop that used muggle herbs. Something that healed PSI induced Paralysis." Ginny stated, looking up with a dull, protective flame in her eyes.

"So, dad might have a chance to be healed in no time if Ness tries it?" Fred asked, sounding a little hopeful.

"Maybe, it explains why dad doesn't have any head injuries."

It was a small ray of hope, but better than nothing to learn that Ness could finish undoing his mistake, that Mr. Weasley would be able to live life like before without any linger pains or physical reminders of that night. But just like that, a storm cloud swallowed it up as Ron spat, "Great! So, let the person who _made_ this mess in the first place finish the job!"

"Ron, it's better than nothing." Harry pleaded, "Besides, Ness probably saved him from dying right then and there-,"

"After causing it?! What is making you guys _so_ blind to the problem!?" Ron demanded, his scowl deepening as they rushed to shush him. Already attracting a couple annoyed and pity filled glances from other customers.

"Every bad thing—every attack—was caused by _him!_ And you're just up and agreeing that _he_ can save the day!"

"Well he has a better track record than me," Harry found himself grumbling. Torn between agreeing with Ron and protecting Ness, "Besides, we only know _one_ part of the story! We don't know what exactly happened from Ness's-,"

"Fine! Since you're all on the _Ness is god_ parade! Why don't we just go bloody ask him!" Ron spun to Ginny who looked ready to punch him, or maybe gouge his eyes out, "You know where he is, right?"

"Mostly." Ginny all but growled, "Luna said he was staying with a friend since there were winter storms in America."

"Then let's go."

"Ron, we don't know where his friend-," George started when Fred mumbled, "It…isn't that bad an idea…" earning a desperate look from his twin who grimaced in reply, "He has a point George, we're just going to go around in circles until we get answers."

"True but…" George's compliant died in his throat, his eyes nervously flickering to Ginny and Ron. He didn't want another fight to break out, he didn't want anyone else to get hurt.

But at this rate…it would be better to rip off the band aid than to let the wound fester and grow… "Alright," Ginny looked at him, torn between annoyance and understanding as Harry got to his feet, "We'll go. We'll ask what happened and leave." He tried hard not to look at Ron's relived expression or Ginny's as the young Weasley got up to call Luna for help. Leaving them to create a cover story for why they were just going to disappear from the hospital after seeing, or rather hearing about what happen to Mr. Weasley.

* * *

 **Man, this is the BEST Christmas ever for the Weasleys! (Sarcasm)**

 **And this is only one third of them. Did Percy, Bill or Charlie ever give their two cents on the original attack...? Well, Percy is excluded since he's a jerk at the moment and might not even be told since he's a Ministry number one fan but, yea. Did they ever find out? Normally I wouldn't be wondering since its normal for loved ones to inform others about attacks or a sudden stay at the hospital but...this is Phoenix business. So would they count since they're old enough to know that something's up behind their dad being attacked? :/**

 **That aside, does anyone know a good website with the all the Harry Potter timeline and events? I used to use Lexicon since they were super informed and I didn't like jumping back and forth in my writing to read a couple paragraphs from the book to figure out what event to talk about next, but for some reason I keep getting errors when I'm trying to look into the second half of Book 5 or anything related to it.**

 **Also, don't worry about Maybell's last name if you remember her, it's intentional. :3**

 **Reviews! :D**

 **M1nhTre37: Thanks! It's nice knowing that my ideas aren't too outlandish to be considered off cannon- I have pet peeves when someone writes something that doesn't make canonical sense and never bothers to explain how or why it happened to fit in with their story universe.- also nice to know that my current plan of 'fix small plot holes I accidentally forgot that I wrote for another arc by connecting them to something else- isn't ruining the flow. ^-^; I'm very forgetful with small details...**

 **HelenTheMoon: Well, keep in mind that Giygas wasn't threatening _just_ Ness's planet but the entire _universe._ And the knowledge of some impending doom lingering the future your planet can make people very fearful and not able to think straight even if they don't know WHAT is attacking them or WHERE it truly is... Also, thanks for asking since I had everything set up expect HOW the 'layers' came into play. It originally sort of just happened until I read your review and thought about it for a moment. /;**

 **CybeastFalzar: Random directions in storytelling are fun. :3**

 **Thanks for the reviews! :D**


	36. Chapter 36, Answers Come First

Never before had Ness experienced fear like this. Sure, he could argue that fighting Giygas and having dreams about him was terrifying, he could argue that the Toad was frightful to think about since she held all the power over the school's head and he could certainly agree that an angry Paula equipped with a frying pan was terrifying.

But nothing could prepare them for _this_.

"Tony, do you see him?" Ness asked, peering around a snow covered tree, his gloved hands clumsily holding the snowball launcher as Tony—Jeff's best friend from school and current extra guest—looked over the top of his fort, trying to spot the somehow still neatly dressed boy wandering around the snowy yard.

"No, I think the coast is-," twap! Tony stumbled back, wiping some snow off his face as Ness screamed, "He found us! RUN!" and booked it away from their hiding spot as Jeff yelled, "You guys _really_ need to work on your hiding spots!"

"Should we return fire?" Tony asked, yelping as he turned back just in time to see a snowball gunning for the back of his head. "Heck no! Bob and weave! His accuracy can't deal with moving targets!"

"That's a lie and you know it Earthbound! Now die!"

They vaulted over a crude wall of snow, cringing as the snowballs flew overhead and slammed into the brick wall across the yard. "Come on Jeff! It wasn't that bad a game!" Ness pleaded, trying to peer over to get a shot on his face before he was rewarded with a snowball to the face.

"I am _never_ playing a game that blatantly _lies_ about geometry and golf!"

"Jeff, it's a _Kirby_ game! What did you expect!?" Tony argued, cringing as more snowballs flew overhead.

"SENSE I SUPPOSE!"

"RUN AGAIN!" Ness ordered, wondering if he should just abandon the gun entirely given Jeff's god like aim and accuracy. So far, they had only managed to get three shots compared to Jeff's swiftly climbing 50.

And they had only managed that by Ness going screw it and tackling Jeff to try and wrestle the gun away. He succeeded for about five minutes before Jeff revealed that he had back up guns and mercilessly pelted his friends with snowballs.

"Fire and hope for the best?" Tony panted, his face a bright red from being hit with snow and battered by the winter breeze.

"Yup, then beg for mercy." Ness agreed, spinning around and screaming, "We said we were sorry!" as Jeff held his ground and equipped himself with a second gun, replying, "I'm still not accepting that!"

"Bad idea! Bad idea!" Tony screamed as their snowballs quickly got destroyed by Jeff's and the remaining army of flying snow resumed its course. "Very bad idea." He agreed, stepping in front of Tony to act like a shield as he braced himself for pain.

Only…it never came since there was a loud pop and a group of wizards dressed in muggle— _normal_ winter clothes landed in the middle of the yard. Landing perfectly between Jeff, Ness and Tony who could only managed surprised and strangled gasps as the snowballs _slammed_ into the new comers.

Knocking those who weren't in the middle of the group into their comrades as they tumbled into the snow. "Ah…I didn't mean to…" Jeff started, his face a bright red as Ness and Tony exchanged a look before bursting out laughing. "We're saved! Saved!" Ness cried, dropping into the snow as Tony wheezed, "Oh dear god! Never before have I been glad to see random fate help us!"

"It's _not_ funny!" Jeff protested as Ness chanted, "Fate is on our side! Fate is on our side!" only shutting up when Jeff yelled, "Keep singing that and I'll call Paula to pray for you!"

"…Low blow Jeff! Low blow!"

"Worth it."

"Say uh…who did Jeff hit in the first place?" Tony asked, prompting the two to look at the obvious wizards struggling to untangle themselves from the snow covered limbs.

With sheepish mumbles of, "Oh yea…" and, "Right…I hit something other than Ness." The trio carefully approached the group, Tony behind Ness who was prepared to bash someone with his gun and Jeff keeping his aim on the group as a whole.

It was a nasty surprise to see someone finally pull themselves out of the snow with a sharp wheeze of, "Ness! It's just me! Ginny!" and slowly healing bruises on her face and an obvious limp.

"You know her…?" Tony asked as more Weasleys pulled themselves out of the pile, Ron, George, Fred and Harry all red faced from the snow.

"I'm here to…"

"Luna?" Luna and a man who Ness guessed to be her father waved hello as Jeff glanced at Ness, silently asking if it was okay to relax. "So…Merry Christmas?" Ness offered, bringing his hand up in greeting before cringing as Ron snapped, "Shove off!"

Earning a fierce glare from Ginny as Luna bluntly said, "They want to hear your side of the story."

"So that Harry person _was_ there…" Jeff mused as Tony looked at Jeff for help. Ness lowered his hand, the momentary joy of playing extreme snowball crumbling into guilt as he nodded, "Right, right…Let's er,"

"Go inside, I'm curious to hear what the fuss is about." Jeff finished, "Plus, I believe the hot coco's finished."

"Oh, thank god." Tony murmured, happily following Jeff inside. A few moments later the group were seated in Jeff's posh kitchen, warm cups of hot coco in their hands as Ness warily studied the expressions on his friends' faces.

His stomach tightening and twisting from Ginny's blank expression, Luna and her father's worried expression, downright hopeful but unsure from the twins, nervous from Harry and burning anger from Ron.

"I'm guessing you were with the snake?" Ness asked, breaking the tense silence as Tony and Jeff sat beside him. Gently nudging his foot to help him remember to breath.

Harry nodded, "I was caught up in the blast, managed to see Mr. Weasley go down before I was sent back to my body."

"Sorry…I thought I heard you but I wasn't sure since I was trying to stop Nagini." Ness tapped his cup, wondering if it was okay to ask how badly Mr. Weasley was when Jeff cleared his throat. Indicting that he would be the one speaking now.

"To be honest, we aren't completely sure how this mess even happened in the first place." Jeff admitted, nudging his glasses up and glancing away as Ron glared daggers at them. Was Mr. Weasley in critical condition…?

"Somehow, something drew Ness's soul into Sister Mary's body—the doll—which already had its own attack set, forcing Ness to utilize them to escape since Sister Mary was locked in a small safe. After escaping he moved to try and deduce where he was being held when he stumbled upon Mr. Weasley and Nagini—the snake—and moved to protect Mr. Weasley. However, he misjudged Mr. Weasley's reaction time and he got caught in the group attack."

"Group attack?" Luna's Father asked, "You mean, you 'PSI' beings have categories just like wizards?" Luna shot Ness an apologetic glance as Fred and George repeated, "PS what now?

"I thought it would be safe to tell him as long as he promised not to write about it in the Quibbler." Luna explained, "No one really listens to us…"

"It's fine, PSI is pretty hard to believe anyway." Ness glanced back at Fred and George who were looking at him in confusion. This day just kept getting better and better…

"Long story short, I'm not a wizard, but a person gifted with powers that called PSI. It's like magic, but not since it's like…er…"

"Two electrical currents." Jeff filled in, "Or two bodies of water, a river and an ocean to be exact. They can seemingly _work_ the same but have different properties in how things should work in order to be successful."

"Yea, that. I can cast things that can only be seen by people who also wield PSI, have been personally affected by it if they aren't wizards or PSI based enemies." Ness explained, grimacing as he added, "Although lately, it's been pretty hard to keep my PSI in check since I have PTSD thanks to magic and turned into an emotionally loose cannon."

"…Right, so that's what Ginny meant when you might be able to heal dad." Fred said after a long moment.

"How badly is he injured?" Ness asked, dreading the news as Tony got up to grab some snacks. Although he doubted he would feel hungry as the Weasleys' expression shifted from blank to remorseful and angered.

"He's…going to need muggle care." Harry started, his voice thick with conflicted emotions, "Magic isn't working on him and he's suffering from electric burns, possibly a broken rib cage and more. No one knows for sure since they need magic to diagnose him."

"That…sucks." Tony offered, returning with some cookies as Ness processed the information. "That's…better than I thought would happen." Ness admitted, "I was worried he might die on the way to the hospital even with my healing…He has a chance to recover though, right?"

"Yes." Ginny answered, "But not without therapy and a miracle that he won't have constant strokes, severe nerve damage and loss his ability to walk without aid."

"Ah." Ness managed, his small glint of hope fading as Jeff stirred his hot coco, "Well, depending on what hospital he's sent to he'll have more chances of recovering and good care. For now, we should focus on the positives that he's still alive-,"

"Positives!? What positives!" Ron demanded, his patience pushed to its limit as he stood up, knocking his chair over as Ginny's glare increased, "Our dad is going to need _muggle_ help!"

"And? I mean, it's better than nothing, right?" Tony offered, woefully under informed about wizards thanks to Ness foolishly believing that he would have a moment of peace. "We have good hospitals and with the right care he'll be back to normal. Er, with of course the lingering scars of what happened and some mental trauma…"

"Mental trauma?" Fred repeated, looking sick as Jeff carefully clarified, "Electrical injuries are the worse since depending on the number of volts used in the accident or injury it can leave to permanent nerve damage and rewire the brain. Essentially making every day tasks much harder unless treated with therapy."

This…wasn't looking good for Mr. Weasley, or his kids. He'd never have a loved one in the hospital—well, not for serious injuries like this—but it must have been hard to cope with the fact that a loved one was injured, and the person behind it having been in a hectic but fun snowball fight moments before their arrival.

"Can you heal him?" George abruptly asked, "Ginny said that you used your magic-,"

"PSI." he and Jeff corrected, but George ignored the correction in favor of finishing his sentence, "To heal him the first time, which is why he can't be healed by the healer's magic. But you can…" he trailed off at the sight of his face.

His apprehension and guilt written clearly on it as he ducked his head. Hating how everything just wound up working against them. "I'm…Honestly not sure if I can heal him." A vacuum seemed to steal the air out of the room as Ness continued, "The attack I used—it wasn't like one I'd ever seen or faced…It was a combination of both magic and PSI. I managed to heal _some_ damage but…I don't want to push it in case I end up doing something worse."

"Worse…?" Ginny questioned, paling and mumbling, "Wait, you don't mean…his magic?"

"What do you mean 'his magic?" Ron started as Luna's father hummed in thought, "Ah, you're afraid that if you tried again you would harm Mr. Weasley's magic and render him a Squib."

"…What?" Harry breathed, looking at Ness in disbelief then back at Luna's father who looked surprised by their lack of foresight, "Well, I might be wrong but if magic's an ocean then it can easily swallow a river, and a river can easily be lost in the ocean, maybe even bringing in some harmful water spirits or Carnivorous Fish people."

"I don't-," Fred started when Ginny softly deadpanned, "Ness is afraid that if he tried to heal Dad anymore he might disable his magic."

"Wha-,"

"Magic and PSI don't mix. Not without consequences at least…" Harry realized, glancing to Ness who could only solemnly nod in agreement, "I'm sorry…"

"This…this is a prank, right?" George asked, his voice weak as he trailed off, silently confirming to himself that it wasn't a joke as he studied their grim faces. That time was the only thing that could heal their dad.

"Great. Just, great!" Ness glanced up, not surprised by Ron's anger but a little confused by the burning hate in the redhead's eyes. "So not _only_ have we wasted our time for nothing-,"

"I learned something valuable from this." Luna interrupted, glancing up from her tower of cookies with a wary gaze.

"We've just relearned that dad is bloody screwed!"

"I admit the odds of a perfect recovery are low, but it's better than nothing." Jeff replied, moving to polish his glasses—a nervous tick of his—as Tony stood up to try and placate Ron, "I get it, it sucks that your dad is stuck in an unknown hospital and that no one but time and good care can help. But it's times like these we have to stay strong for our loved ones and-,"

"Strong!? How can we stay strong when this _bastard!"_ Ness flinched at the harsh title and swallowed back a retort of raw anger, his headache swiftly returning. "Is messing with everyone and everything!"

Annnd Ron pieced together that he might be accidentally influencing the PSI beings at Hogwarts…although it was curious to learn how they got there if Wizards opted to lock them up in heavily protected safe boxes.

"Ron!" Ginny snapped, getting up when Luna grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Probably to stop her from adding more wounds to Ron's face. "Well I'm right!" Ron retorted, angrily gesturing at Ness who counted to ten a couple times. Knowing that defending himself would make it worse.

Ron was just hurt and needed someone to blame. And given how sick Harry looked it was probably better him than his own friend. "This entire school year has been flipped upside down because of him!"

"I don't really think Ness wants to be there in the first place…" Tony argued, leaning back with a small frown as Jeff muttered, "Just let him rant, he needs to vent."

"Now, now Ronald-," Luna's father started, glancing between the redhead and Ness with a small frown, "We can't just blame Ness for everything! It was merely his powers acting out."

"Dad…" Luna groaned as Ron blinked then looked back at him, "Hold on—you mean- YOU AREN'T EVEN PURPOSELY DOING THIS!?"

"I don't _believe_ so." Ness admitted, cringing as Harry muttered, "That painting _was_ attacking everything for you…it was trying to protect you…" adding more fuel to Ron's fire.

"Why are you even AT Hogwarts if you can't control your bloody mind breaking powers?!" Ron demanded, his hands curling into fists, "Why couldn't you just stay back in America and screw everything up other there?!"

"I dunno, ask Dumbledore." Jeff replied, adjusting his glasses in contemplation, "I for one would like to know why your father we even protecting the door to the room Ness was locked up in. Shouldn't this Ministry have guards or something patrolling it if it's dangerous enough for a wizard to send a murderous viper to kill him?"

"It seems strange for a man who has a cozy job to risk so much…" Luna's dad mused, brightening for a moment as he exclaimed, "Perhaps this is a government conspiracy! A plan to protect someone sneaking around the Department of Mysteries for a mystical object!"

"Well…it is possible that someone else is there." Tony agreed, intrigued by the idea of two agents when Ron threw his hands up in rage, "Why does everyone try to ignore the problem here?!"

"Maybe because we can't _do_ anything about it." Ginny snapped, "Now stop carrying on like a brat! You aren't the only one hurting here!"

"Ginny, Ron," George started, looking at his wits end as Ron turned on Ginny, "You sure?! Since you seem pretty keen on defending your boyfriend-,"

"Excuse me?" Ness interrupted, feeling sick as he looked at Ginny then Ron in disbelief. Of course that feeling of sickness faded when Jeff said, "He's dating Paula."

"No I'm not!"

"What? I thought you totally were!" Tony exclaimed, looking at him in shock as Ness felt his face turn a bright red, "No! I've been too busy dealing with wizards!"

"Huh…you should really confess though, Paula's at her wits ends worrying about you." Jeff mused, a small smile appearing as Ness rounded on him, "Jeff Andonuts I swear to God-,"

"Right, the same god who blesses us with feeling weird and hinders us in battle."

"You—Ugh!" Ness buried his face in his arms and yelled, "Stop being smart!" as Jeff had the nerve to laugh at him. "I thought he was dating Paula as well given how desperate you were to protect her…" Luna mused, Ginny humming in agreement as Ness groaned, "Really you guys….?" Vaguely wondering if Paula still liked him like that.

They both returned those feelings when they had defeated Giygas but with all the chaos and suddenly being shipped off to Hogwarts…maybe he should. It wasn't fair to keep worrying Paula without promising something to her…Right? Geez…Tracey was right about him being dense when it came to emotions other than being relaxed and happy.

He jumped when someone suddenly yelled, "Ron! Wait!" and a door preparing to slam shut, "I'm _not_ hanging around with freaks like _them_!" Ron snapped, "It's bad enough that he saved Malfoy but this?!"

"Oh you are _such_ a primadonna-,"

"Ginny!"

The door slammed and an icy chill settled over the room. "Give him a moment," Tony softly offered, "He just needs to walk it off."

"Yea, like how he walked off when Harry and Ness were being honest about not entering the cup themselves." Ginny retorted, "He's a mindless git-,"

"Tea! Who's up for some Crumple Nickle tea?" Luna's father suggested, cutting Ginny off as Harry got up, mumbling something about needing a walk as well. As Fred and George just dropped their heads on the table. Done with this entire mess.

"I think we all need a big cup of sanity tea…" Luna sighed, getting up to help her father as Jeff moved to show them where everything was. "I'll just…chill in the guest room." Ness stated, getting up to give everyone a bit of space from him.

Unable to help but feel like a being of destruction as he climbed the stairs, taking note of Harry and Ron's missing shoes by the door. "Even when I have a small break to myself…Everything still goes wrong." Ness sighed, collapsing on the bed and looking aimlessly up at the creamy white ceiling. "What am I going to do…?"

Nothing. That's what. He couldn't do anything to change Ron's feelings about him. All he could do for Ginny was support her or maybe distance himself for a bit to give her time to grieve and Harry…Welp, there goes any chance of him being acquaintances with the boy.

"Peachy…Just peachy." Ness groaned, closing his eyes and willing the pressure behind his eyes to die down. Ignoring the aching throb around his heart as he listened to the quiet of winter and the soft noise coming from downstairs.

A sharp trill interrupted his moment of silence, forcing him to sit up and look at the pearl white phone resting on the bedside table. _"Must be for me…Maybe mom?"_

"…Hello?"

"Ness? Is that you sweetheart?" even when his spirits were low and his mind a muddled mess from homesickness, he could always count on his mother's voice to bring a small smile to his face. "Yea…it's me."

"You sure? I've never heard you this upset before! Oh! Did Jeff destroy you at that video game you were playing?"

"No, it's not that. I beat him at Super Smash Bros and Kirby Dream Course. It's just…" Ness sighed and pulled his legs in, "Mom…I think I messed up."

"Everyone makes mistakes every now and then Ness, it's not the end of the world-,"

"No, no…I think I messed up by being me and being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Oh…this is serious then…"

"A friend from school's dad-there in the hospital because I was thrown into this doll's body and-…He's injured really, really badly."

"…Did you mean for that to happen?"

"No…but their wizards mom. My friend's older brother, Ron, he's really upset over it. Their dad's going to have to get mugg—Normal care and no one's really sure if he can go back to what he used to be."

"Well, that's a little silly. Every time someone gets hurt there's always something that changes about them, things change and sometimes…it's not for the best. For now, we should focus on accepting the changes and reminding those that change that we still love them and don't mind."

A small wobbly smile formed as Ness chuckled, "How do you always know what to say?"

"Part of a mother's job dear, now what else happened?"

"Well…" it was a miracle that he didn't start crying as he explained the castle being haunted by weird creatures. Creatures he believed to be PSI enemies corrupted by magic and following his subconscious orders thanks to Giygas's influence somehow lingering in his heart.

How Ron had rightfully accused him of actively trying to shut down Hogwarts and had possibly gotten into a brawl over it with Ginny, how Jeff theorized that something had gone wrong when Giygas's reign of terror was erased and how he had taken control of Nagini and met a being who knew his lullaby.

"I'm scared…what if I actually _am_ their leader? What if I can't control them?" Ness admitted, biting his lip as his mother stayed silent, processing the information. "I know it's not true but…everything's just been thrown out of balance. And it feels like I can't do _anything_ about it!"

"Well…this is a tricky question," his mother finally hummed. "I don't really remember much of Giygas but…everything that's happening seems to be connected to your PTSD, maybe you just need time to heal."

"Pretty hard to heal when _no one_ is giving me space." He grumbled, cringing at the bitter anger in his voice, "Sorry, it's just-,"

"Hard. It's alright Ness, I've never dreamed my baby boy would be facing so much in such a short time."

"…Yea." He sighed, leaning back to look at the ceiling again, "I just want…answers, to be able to feel in control of _something_ without it coming with a price tag…Y'know?"

"Yup, but life can be a cruel mistress…And the only way to beat her is to hold your head up high and be ready to fight."

"…I guess."

"Guess? Excuse me, since when did Ness Earthbound guess?"

"Uh,"

"Since he certainly didn't guess when he thought it was a brilliant idea to use the entire salt shaker for pasta night!"

"Wha— _Moom!_ It slipped out of my hand! Tracey and King defended me on that!" Ness retorted, unable to hold back a laugh as his mother playfully hummed in reply. "That's what they all say mister! But I suppose I should get off, King is trying to sneak a biscuit past me and Tracey wants to talk to you."

"If this is about her Christmas gift-," Ness started when his mother laughed, "No, it's about this weird snake she found!"

"…What?"

"I'm hoping it's something related to school but—oh! Her she is, hold on!"

"Ness! So uh, did you ship a teleporting snake home or what?"

"…What—w-wait! What color is the snake?"

"A jungle green, and it has this weird mark on its side, like a broken ghost being swallowed up by the earth."

"What."

"…I'm guessing you didn't send it home?"

"No! I don't think so—wait…" What had he told Nagini?

 _"Head home and chill."_

Head. Home. And. Chill.

"ARGH! I totally did send it home!"

"Uh…so…how did you adopted a pet snake?"

"I didn't adopt her! It just, sort of happened!" Ness groaned, "She was under someone's influence and I freaked and—ugggh…this is so annoying to retell…" but he dutifully filled Tracey in before demanding to know how Nagini was doing.

"Well… she lives chilling in your room and she can er, teleport whenever she wants."

"Oh because my day just cannot get any better…" Ness grumbled as Tracey yelped and jerked away from the phone for a moment, "And er, she's _very_ clingy. She just appeared on my shoulder—good gosh you are heavy!—I think she wants to say hi."

"Hey Nagini, don't eat King." Ness sighed, flinching when he heard Nagini faintly replied, _"Okay, the dog wasn't very tasty looking anyway…"_ in the back of his head.

"What do you think she wants? Besides orders of course." Tracey stated.

"I don't know…I don't even know who _owned_ her in the first place." Ness replied, "I mean, besides possibly Voldemort but…yea."

 _"I served…Tom Riddle!"_

"And she's just informed me that she served someone called 'Tom Riddle'…whoever he is." Although knowing his luck, it was probably another weirdo wizard for him to deal with later.

"Well, look on the bright side!"

"What bright side. I see myself being accused of actually sending the snake _to_ Mr. Weasley if they find out about this."

"Well, okay that _is_ bad. But you could use her to snoop around the Ministry!"

"…Point." Ness agreed, muffling a scream as Nagini suddenly landed on the bed, her tongue rapidly flitting in and out of her mouth before she peered up at him with eager eyes. "…Okay, this is freaky. How does she know where _Jeff_ lives?"

"…Er…Yea I got nothing." Tracey admitted before chirping, "Oh wait! Better idea! You could use her as a mail snake!"

"Mail snake." Ness repeated before glancing down at Nagini, who was coiling around his waist in an attempt to be affectionate. It was…sort of working since most snakes opted to bite him instead of strangling him to death.

"Yes, mail snake! That way you could keep in touch with us!"

"…True, but I don't think Poo and Jeff would react kindly to a snake falling out of the sky to deliver their mail."

"Better than nothing, plus! Secret agent snake!"

"…True."

"Heeyy," oh god. Tracey got that, 'I'm going to be an annoying little sister' tone. "Tracey, whatever you're implying-," Ness started when Tracey teased, "Maybe now you could confess to Paula! We all _know_ you like her and vice-versa! Now if only Hogwarts hadn't screwed everything up…"

"Seriously. Why is everyone so interested in my love life!? First Ron accuses me of dating Ginny-,"

"Who?"

" _Friend._ And Jeff and Tony tease me about it in the middle of a serious conversation!"

"Caus' it's true—DON'T DO THAT!"

A quick glance down at his waist informed him that Nagini had grown bored and moved back to Tracey…probably knocking her to the grounding judging by the sudden noise on the other end of the phone. "Karrmaaa~"

"Oh shut up." Tracey grumbled, her voice faint before she returned to the phone, "Anyway, have you gotten any calls from someone named Astra Kale?"

"Er…no, not yet. Why do you ask?"

"He somehow found your phone number and wanted to talk to you, something about apologizing for acting weird and wanting to warn you about something."

"Did he say what exactly or…?"

"Er, he told Paula about it and she seems pretty on edge now, you should probably call her to get the full story."

"…Are you saying that because it's true or…?"

"Oh, look at the time gotta go byeee!"

"Tracey! You little-," she hung up before he could finish his threat, leaving him to glare at the phone before grumbling under his breath and moving to call Paula. Hesitating for a moment before he called her number.

"Polestar resident and preschool," Paula's mother greeted, "May I ask who's calling?"

"Ness, is Paula around?"

"Ness? Oh my! I thought that school didn't let you use phones or send letters!"

"I'm staying at Jeff's place for the holidays, trying to relax before school starts back up."

"Right, you've been busy fighting that new teacher. Paula told me she was some sort of witch who's been pushing your buttons."

"More like stabbing them with a knife." Ness grumbled before he forced himself to cheer up, "Anyway, is Paula around? I want to ask her something."

"Oh she's around, happily shooting me mortified looks and trying to steal the phone away from me." There was a laugh as Paula hissed, "Mother!" and succeeded in stealing the phone away from her.

"Hiya Paula! How's break-," he cringed as Paula swiftly went into 'mom' mode and began 'asking' how he was doing and if he needed help. Or cookies. Or maybe someone with a cracked skull courtesy of her frying pan.

"First, I'm…not okay." He admitted, glancing back to the door and the mess most likely waiting for him downstairs, "I got stuck staying at Jeff's place thanks to the snowstorms and got confronted about a mess I was in at the wrong time at the wrong place."

"Did anyone get hurt?" Paula asked, her voice changing from worried to concerned as he retold the story for the third time that day. Adding in how Nagini had now moved into his house per his orders and how the Weasleys plus the Lovegoods had tracked him down to hear his side of the story.

"Oh…dear." Was all Paula could manage.

"I know right? So not only can I not help their dad, but I'm now planning on using the attacker to be a mailman." He sighed and flopped back down on a pillow, "Can't something just go RIGHT for once?"

"Doesn't seem like it, and even though I'm sure someone else had told you this before—it wasn't your fault."

"Feels like it-,"

" _Ness._ Repeat after me."

A shiver of fear ran down his spine before he paused, "Paula, we're almost a a million miles away from each other, you're threats can't work—" Apparently, they could work since Nagini landed on his stomach, coiled around a frying pan that knocked the wind out of him for a moment.

"Really…?"

"She has very good timing." Paula hummed, probably feeling smug as Nagini happily blinked up at him, "Now, repeat after me."

"Fiiinnnee."

"It was not my fault."

"It was not my fault." He droned, snickering when he heard an irritated sigh from Paula.

"I reacted in the heat of the moment to try and protect a friend's loved one."

"I reacted in the heat of the moment to try and protect a friend's loved one."

"We should be thankful that there alive."

"We should be thankful that there alive."

"And I am an idiot."

"And I am a- HEY!"

He glared at the phone as Paula laughed and teased, "It was worth a shot."

"You had better be so glad that I like you enough NOT to return your frying pan." Ness grumbled, unable to stop himself from smiling as Nagini got bored and dragged the pan off of him to snoop around the room. "So, pity party aside-,"

"Ness."

"-Tracey told me that my astrology teacher has been in contact with you. What's that about?"

"Well…" there was a small pause before Paula spoke up, "He explained that he's a seer, he can look into the future using the stars and had a serious message to give you. He was hoping to catch you at home but, you know, so he asked me to tell you to be careful of those who play with fire that didn't belong to them and to be wary of the ravens who change their stripes."

"That's…such a weird message." Ness noted, "Anything else?"

"Besides an apology for seemingly working with Umbridge? Yes, he was very serious about this last part. Insisting that we should be wary of the boy tied to fate."

"The boy tied to fate…?" Ness repeated frowning until he remembered a certain someone with a lightning bolt scar on their head who had been singled out by Voldemort for some bizarre reason. "Do you know who he is?" Paula asked.

"Yea, I think he means _Harry_."

"…Er…"

"The boy with black hair and glasses." Ness deadpanned.

"Oh! I think I remember him."

"Really?"

"You know how I feel about cloaked people Ness."

"I know, I know but-,"

"Drop it. And, I guess it makes sense."

"How?"

"Well, didn't Dumbledore mention how you played a bigger part in this than you thought?"

"Um…" He could SORT of remember that chat from the year before. Or maybe even his first year before that. He had tried to leave Hogwarts and Dumbledore had said some mumbo jumbo about him being a part of a bigger role he had that was connected to Harry.

Harry.

"…I just realized something horrible."

"What?"

"Every time I get wrapped up into a mess, it's because _Harry_ was at the center of it. My very first year I thought I was supposed to _protect_ him!"

"And if Harry's tied to a prophecy then…" Paula trailed off, her words leaving a cloud of gloom and doom as they remembered the prophecy they had been in, the one that had them be destined to stop Giygas.

One that probably hadn't been completed since he was somehow still under Giygas's influence and the being himself might still be alive. Somehow.

The thought sent shivers down his spine as Paula moved onto talking about something else, trying to put his mind at ease before moving on to grumbling about wizards and how annoying they were.

"I bet they can't even use a _toaster._ " Paula snapped, her quip bringing him back to earth for a moment as he replied, "Yea, they don't."

"Wha- Really?!"

"Paula, they have _nothing_ electric at Hogwarts. None at all."

"So, you're living in a dump for almost an entire year without toast!?"

"They still have toast."

"Discount toast then!"

"Really. Discount toast? Never knew you were a fan of bread Paula."

"Har-har Steak boy."

"Oh no, my secret has been reviled." He deadpanned before they started laughing at their dumb argument over wizards and toast. Moving onto a light-hearted topic of how Paula was doing, the Mystic Informer, something he had been avoiding in an attempt to have an awesome Christmas and how he managed to tick Jeff off and almost be murdered by snowballs.

"Knowing you, you probably deserved it." Paula teased laughing as Ness defended himself with, "I told him it was a kiddy golf game! Tony did too!"

"Rigghht." Paula replied, "Anyway, I have to go."

"Did Nagini break something? Again?" During their conversation the snake had grown bored of not doing anything and had been teleporting back and forth to try and entertain herself. Causing some vases to be knocked over or some pillows to be misplaced to cure her boredom.

"No, it's nearly bedtime. Timezones, remember?"

"…We have time zones?"

"Oh my—Good BYE Ness!"

"No wait! I'm serious!" Ness replied, laughing as Paula hung up with a laugh.

"…Now I need to ask Jeff about timezones."

 _"You seriously don't know…?"_ he jumped and turned to see Nagini coiled around a lamp for some weird reason. "Uh, no, not really. I mean, I know it has _something_ to do with how time is different in different places but…"

 _"Not the full extent."_ Nagini finished, tasting the air with her tongue before she slithered down to wrap around his waist. "Yea, it's a dumb question, although…" he glanced at the mark under her head. The shattered earth either swallowing or releasing a gruesome depiction of a ghost. Its face twisted into agony and giving a silent screech.

"Nagini, did Tom Riddle put some magic on you or something?" Ness asked, tempted to poke the symbol but stopped when he remembered Nagini's fangs.

 _"Maybe? I don't know. Mind fuzzy. Very, very fuzzy."_

"And your speech is weird…" had the mark been an invisible seal to keep Nagini under Tom's control? Or had it been wizarding influence that he had accidentally destroyed in his haste to stop her from attacking Mr. Weasley?

 _"Speech is fine. You're weird."_

"Gee, thanks-,"

"Why are you talking to snake." Ness _totally_ didn't fall off the bed with a screech. Nope, _totally_. Not even when Jeff shot him a questionable look and closed the door behind him.

"Well, random snake aside, everyone but Tony is getting ready to go but Ginny wants to talk to you about something."

"R-right, I'll be down in a bit." Jeff shot him a look then tilted his head to Nagini who was baring her fangs and eager to fight. "Oh geez—Nagini, Jeff is a friend! Don't bite him!"

 _"…He looks weird."_ Nagini decided, relaxing into a loose coil as Jeff studied her, "Nagini, the same snake who-,"

"You know how I ordered her to head home?" Ness interrupted, cringing as Jeff paled and adjusted his glasses. "Ah…she's now…?"

"Yup, and I'm planning on using her as a mail snake."

"…Well, I suppose that could work. You would just need to set up times so no one would find out about Nagini."

"I'm more worried about her dropping on someone's head." He glanced at the snake who was eyeing the ceiling, "She does that. A lot."

"Right…Anyway, Ginny's waiting. I'm…going to watch the snake."

 _"Not a baby."_

"Noted Nagini."

 _"And ignored."_ Nagini grumbled as Ness left the somewhat warm room and walked downstairs, fighting back a guilty smile when he noticed Ron glaring daggers at him. He didn't have long to study it, or maybe apologize when Ginny and Luna grabbed his wrists and dragged him into one of the rooms Jeff and Doctor Andonuts set aside for tinkering.

"So, what's the-," Ness started when Ginny interrupted him, "What _really_ happened."

"Wha-," he stopped and looked at Luna who merely shook her head no to his next question. "Well…nothing much, just the fact that the Ministry had a bunch of PSI enemies who were corrupted by magic and calling me their new leader with their old leader locked behind a metal door. He was oddly…soothing."

"It's troublesome to wonder why the Ministry would have clearly dangerous beings in their possession and not destroy them." Luna mused.

"Maybe they couldn't defeat them." Ness offered, nervously studying Ginny who was thinking, her eyes closed in thought, "I mean, wizards can't see PSI attacks and you guys don't really seem ready to resort to physical force to achieve something."

"True…but this just raises a bigger question." Ginny opened her eyes, the bone deep weariness and pain shining brightly as she asked, "Why was dad even there? What was so important that Voldemort would try and break in or kill him?"

"The only people who would have that answers would be the one who sent Mr. Weasley there." Ness replied, hating how every question, every riddle had an answer locked away by someone they couldn't reach or fight.

The truth always a foot in front of them, mocking and jeering as they could only stare with gritted teeth. They left after that, leaving him to stew in his thoughts as Jeff came downstairs. Nagini happily wrapped around him as Tony screamed and rushed to try and help him.

The scene brought a small smile to his face before it slipped off. How many people would need to get hurt before Dumbledore sent him back to Hogwarts? How long would it be before he truly snapped.

And when were they going to get their questions answered?

"Ness, I have a question." He looked up from his thoughts, surprised to see some notebooks and graph paper on the living room coffee table. "Jeff? What's with all the…" he trailed off when he saw the glint in Jeff's eyes.

Like everyone else, Jeff was tired of being teased and taunted with the truth. He wanted answers, and he had the smarts to get them. "How well can you control the beings under your… 'control'?"

"Barely…? I don't know, I think I've only purposely controlled them once." Ness admitted, glancing at Nagini and adding, "Minus Nagini of course, she was a heat of the moment thing."

"So, what would happen if you _could_ control them?"

"Jeff, what are you hinting at?"

"Snowballing."

"What?"

Jeff adjusted his glasses and smirked, "We're going to snowball the problems to get some answers, starting with a certain teacher with connections to the Ministry."

"…Huh." Was he could manage as he sat down at the meeting.

* * *

 **And now, part two to the best Christmas ever! :D Everyone gets emotional pain!  
**

 **Also, I have now set my little sister on a small war path since I went downstairs cracking up about the irony in my statement and since my little sister is an _extreme_ world builder and needs every little detail makes sense before she can write about it. Couple this with my answers and her lack of knowledge of the books and you know have a 15 year old worrying about the wizard economy, how wizards give birth and cracking up over Dumbledore randomly getting shot in the head thanks to a random gun. (She's still typing as I write this. Her new discussion is how to fix the wizarding economy.) Thank GOD we don't have twitter, J.K Rowling would get no rest XD**

 **Reviews! :D**

 **M1nhTre37: Don't worry, my head hurts as well since every time I think about PSI and Magic I seem to end up running in circles about what magic and PSI can cannot do and what happens when you mix them together. Also, because my little sister is still wondering about wizards as I type this. (SEND HELP XD)And poor Ron isn't even done being unreasonably angry yet, we still have the end of break to worry about. :3**

 **CybeastFalzar: In the defense of the grieving Weasleys (Who I'm not done with in terms of suffering.) it's pretty rare to see a wizard suffering from Paralysis since magic is mostly- Stupify! You can't move now! You're paralyzed/stunned!- instead of delayed reactions and brief moments of being unable to move or think coherently. Another joy of PSI messing with magic. Also, even though I have no idea what Razeluxe is, go for it! I'm currently juggling three stories (Which may never see the light of day since I kept changing my mind on what happens or how it should work) since I have so many ideas that I don't want to forget. Actually, I think it's a curse for writers to have multiply stories happening at once since I've seen so many people online juggling different stories and keeping them regularly posted.**

 **Thanks for the reviews! :D**


	37. Chapter 37 Those Unaccounted for

Have you ever had a thought that you'd forgotten something? Something important and needed to be accomplished immediately? But the moment you stop doing whatever you were doing to focus on that thought it slipped away, like a slippery snake.

Lupin was currently having those thoughts as he quietly filled Tonks on what had happened, his stomach churning as he foolishly glanced at over Arthur and Molly, who was sitting by her husband's side, his charred hand tightly held in hers as she mumbled words of strength through a watery and almost broken voice. Prompting him to look away and focus on the feeling of being watched.

But by who? The healer and Miss Jones had left to give them a moment of privacy while the kids had hurried off somewhere. Probably to question Ness. Something he wanted to do as well, but with a level head since all he could think about was just how _fatal_ Ness's attack had been to Mr. Weasley.

An attack that had been cast in a panic to protect Arthur that quickly spiraled out of control somehow. If an accidental attack could render a wizard like… _this_ then what could an attack made with purpose be like? Would the target die? Would it be worse than the three unforgivable curses combined?

A small shudder ran down his spine as he forced himself to breath, to be strong as the small handful of Order members tried to figure out what to do with the clearly dangerous enigma and the creature that Ness had been controlling, the doll.

"Expel him! That's what!" Molly snapped, her fire returning with mournful vigor as Tonks chewed on her lip, "Molly, I _know_ this is bad but…would it _really_ be safe to let him freely wander around America? England?"

"He was doing just _fine_ before he discovered Hogwarts!" Molly retorted, "I just want him _away_ from my family!"

"Yes, but that was before he found out about wizards." Lupin pointed out, a knot forming in his stomach as he forced himself to go on, "He can't simply become blissfully ignorant about our situation, not when Voldemort could make him a target like Harry. It's to much of a risk."

"Ness's aside, er, sort of. How did he even _find_ that room?" Tonks asked, stepping forward to put the focus on her and not the glaring elephant resting in bed. "Harry said he came through the door, right? So that means he was either snooping around the Department of Mysteries or somehow summoned there."

The thought left a bad taste in their mouths. What if Ness found the very thing they were seeking to protect? What if he foolishly damaged it before they could properly find it? Ness had proven to figure out their plans with scary ease and that he wasn't afraid to throw a wrench in it if he could help his friends.

He had unraveled so many secrets to the public, thrown so much mud and dirt onto Hogwarts name with his American connections and shaken everyone's faith in the Ministry. If he found out about _this_ then…

The wizarding world would be truly upside down. But would it be in a good way? Or a bad way? No one was really handling the news of Voldemort's return well. Desperately believing it was a new dark lord like Peter Petigrew or Barty Crouch Jr. even though the proof of old followers flocking back to the man was a clear sign that someone powerful and well known was in control.

And those that did believe were painted as loons and dangers to society as they prepared charms and set up key words to protect themselves. Many non-believers were eager to jump on the boat of 'Harry and Ness were insane' just to have hope _somewhere_.

But if wind got out that Voldemort had attempted to attack the Department of Mysteries and ended up allowing Arthur to be severally injured despite not supposed to be there…what would happen? Who would be blamed? Who would be lit aflame to satisfy the roaring mob?

"He's close to Harry…who's close to Voldemort." Lupin slowly started, "Perhaps…perhaps their battle in the graveyard was more dire than we thought…perhaps Ness has formed a link with Harry, one that allowed him to follow Harry and possibly take over Nagini's place but pushed him to what he wanted to know."

"Which is?" Tonks asked, paling when Lupin harshly breathed out his answer, "Maybe what happened to other PSI users like him."

The room seemed to become charged with tension almost emitting from the teddy bear Jones had left behind…That bear that seemed to be watching them with an intense glassy eyed gaze.

"What...they're were _others_ like him?" Molly asked, seeming horrified as Tonks numbly nodded, forcing out a nervous laugh, "Yes, surprised you know about it, Lupin."

"I've had a…difficult childhood Tonks, my senses have evolved a bit, allowing me to sense those who weren't wizards." His heart grew heavy at the memory of Belinda Thimble who suddenly had a chaotic magical meltdown before his fifth year started. A meltdown that killed 15 wizards. A meltdown that forced Belinda to suddenly 'disappear' from society.

A meltdown many feared were related to those strange attacks at the very start of the attacks on Muggles and Wizards that drove items, animals and even muggles themselves to become crazy and develop horrific power. And that what he only knew from the heavily edited news to ease the wizards worried minds.

The mere memory left him light headed as Tonks explained a bit more, her face grim. "After the first meltdown Auroras and Unspeakables were assigned to hunt down any other dangerous children and…well, exterminate them for everyone's safety. Some were taken into custody but…Only the Unspeakables know what truly happened."

Molly managed a small, "Oh…." As she glanced at Tonks then at Arthur. Her fire returning as she closed her eyes and looked away, "If that's the case why is _he_ here? Why is harming our loved ones?!"

 _"I wish I knew…"_ was all Lupin could think as Tonks went to comfort her, murmuring soft words at how it was just fate dealing them a bad hand, that they would just need to ride it out while Lupin turned away.

He understood Molly's hate, but…he couldn't bring himself to wish that fate on Ness, the boy who despite being an American and transfer student went out of his way to help people. Even showing off his powers to prove Peter's guilt and save Sirius's life. Perhaps fate _did_ deal them all a bad hand.

One that was pushing them to the very edge of their morals and sanity. With a sigh he turned, about to say he was going to get some tea and perhaps check in with the children when he felt a chill of anger and hate aimed at him, _them_.

Coming from…the bear? And—his heart stopped when he spotted a battered and faded wooden doll peeking behind the bear. A doll far to old to be with Jones. "Molly. Did…did Harry mention where the doll went?" Lupin asked, pulling out his wand and slowly moving toward it.

"No, he passed out before he could see what _he_ did." Molly spat out, looking up as Tonks tensed, sensing that something was amiss. "Lupin, what is it-,"

A child's giggle filled the air, sending chills down their spines as the doll laughed. And laughed, its body slowly moving from behind the bear as it stared at them, it's painted face displaying a faded smile as laughter echoed from within.

"What…what is that?!" Molly demanded as Tonks pointed her wand at the doll and yelled, _"Colloshoo!"_ sticking the doll's wooden feet to the table.

"That…That is a _dangerous_ item corrupted by PSI." Tonks explained, hurriedly pushing them out of the room, "I'll need back up immediately-," a small giggle floated into the air as they spun around to find the doll missing. "How did it…" Lupin breathed when the hallway suddenly burst into flames.

Not actual flames that licked the walls and floors thankfully but it was probably worse since every bench, potted plant and random bag was set aflame and flung into the air. Tonks let loose a curse and yelled, "Get out of here and inform Dumbledore what's going on! I'm calling for backup!" and rushed to help put out the flames.

"The children?! Where are they-," Molly started when Lupin pulled her to the ground yelling, "Apparate and try and contact them! I'm going to help Tonks!" as a flying bench flew over their head, flying over the backs of a fleeing mother and her child.

"R-right!" Molly hastily did as told as Lupin murmured, _"Aguamenti."_ And blasted a flaming purse. _"Merry Christmas…? How wrong we were."_ Lupin grimly thought as a wreath flew overheard, blackened and charred.

* * *

Merry Christmas! Most would say, happy and buzzing with joy. All but one sour faced toad who studied a magazine with tightly pressed lips, one of many that had been haunting her for a while now as well as the Ministry breathing down her back.

The Mystic Informer, an American magazine she couldn't ban and couldn't stop. One that had popped up in England a year before to blast Hogwarts for 'endangering children' and 'Being unsuitable for future students' as well as asking, 'Is Dumbledore truly fit for this school?'

But her most _hated_ article from that blasted magazine was the story about a 'cultist' who had slipped into the school to act as a 'Self Defense class' teacher but had been there to corrupt and endanger students entering a year long school tournament. A long black mark painted against Ministry as the article moved onto the schools' other teachers.

Professor Lupin, the only sane teacher who had a disability (More like _disease.)_ that forced him to take special medicine in order to be presentable had managed to become the school's favorite teacher until his mental instability had come to light. Despite this the author joked about Lupin had managed to arm the students with useful knowledge and bond with them despite being ill and supposedly dangerous to be around. He also believed that the danger was dramatized to unbelievable levels since the only reports of injuries came from students being disobedient and ignoring an animal's boundaries and then the legal argument of putting the animal down which had the school reasonably split.

Then, Professor Lockheart, who had been a fraud of a man who had gotten his karma in permanent brain damage from an injury that had been caused in his attempt to silence two students who had called for his help to rescue a sibling loss in the castle and supposedly being held captive by a terrorist. The author flat out stated that while it was horrible to hear that he might never recover he was a horrendous teacher who road the coattails of others and should have _never_ tried to use such a delicate situation to bolster his own fame and fortune.

Then they talked about Professor Quirrell who had been working with a well-known British terrorist to rise back to national power over the country while posing as a teacher. They had stated multiple time of how the man endangered and almost _killed_ some kids in his drunken drive to become a national villain or perhaps, a _hero_ in his mind before the students stopped him by reporting him to _reasonable_ teachers.

Finally it moved onto her.

 _"And now we have Dolores Umbridge, the new SD teacher who has been sent by the Ministry to observe and hopefully cull the growing dangers of Hogwarts. We cross our fingers and hope for the best of luck for her!... Is what we would say if we haven't been hearing horrible things about her._

 _Now, I know we shouldn't be bias about her performance but some stories that have floated to our England branch office is…troublesome. One submitter—who goes by the nickname of Whispering Flowers sent her mother a letter which was in turn sent to us after receiving their permission to post it with a bit of editing to protect their privacy._

 ** _"Dear Mother, our first week was honestly very unsettling, we got a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, she's Professor Umbridge…I'll get into her later. It seems like everything is against Hogwarts, the train had a blackout and nearly derailed because of an argument between Potter and Earthbound, then the welcoming feast started with dishes blowing up as Umbridge tried to introduce herself prompting everyone to leave early, and for the rest of the week classes just went wrong._**

 ** _Professors kept getting interrupted by whispers outside the door, candles haunted Earthbound and blew up for next to no reason, Professor Bins keeps fleeing the classroom in the middle of History, Professor Spout has exploding plants—everything that can go wrong seems to absolutely go wrong._**

 ** _It's horrendous. But not as bad as our first class with Umbridge. I still feel sick about the incident as I write this letter. It started out with us being stuck to read books instead of practicing with our wands. Something that left many of us confused and prompted_** ** _Scaredy Cat_** ** _—you know, the boy_** ** _Petals_** ** _has a crush on?—to ask why we didn't need our wands. Which lead to a chain reaction of everyone else asking and pointing out that defense is important with the castle becoming so hostile and the growing threats outside of school._**

 ** _Her answer to our growing worries and evidence that we need protection? The incidents happening in Hogwarts were caused by troublemakers. TROUBLEMAKERS. An unacceptable answer since I doubt so many people would risk breaking into the kitchen daily to mess up meals, hex a painting no one can find, drop things and freeze Professor Snape's cauldron in the middle of class._**

 ** _She claimed that the 'You-know-who' attack was something Dumbledore's supporters cooked up when someone pointed out the disaster known as the Triwizard tournament. Something I seriously doubt was fake given how shaken Potter was and how…dead Earthbound looked._**

 ** _It gets worse from there, then she moves onto provoking Earthbound who's been acting very off. He's snappish and almost always struggling to keep his mouth shut and his eyes…they're a dull black instead of that sharp energetic black. It's unsettling._**

 ** _He wasn't even saying anything at the time, he was just focusing on his desk with a frustrated scowl when she turned the conversation to him. She just kept going and going, pushing his buttons as he's visibly struggling to stay cordial before he calls her a toad and explains that he's suffering from PTSD thanks his near-death incident last year and had a letter explaining it from his Therapist and mother to allow him to leave during class to calm down before he created a disturbance._**

 ** _Do you know what she did when he got up to do just that? Claim the letter was void since he wasn't evaluated by Hogwarts and that he was LYING. He rightly lost it then._**

 ** _Pulling her sweet but evil demeanor apart when he realized she was a muggle hater and just trying to stir up trouble. It got worse when he also pointed how the Ministry had tried to do the same, attempting to silence Barty Crouch Jr. and nearly kill his mother and sister in the process just to hide another embarrassing mistake._**

 ** _Something his friend confirmed since she had been a witness with three other students and some teachers. She sent him to detention with Potter, a horrendous idea when his friend explained that THEY had been the ones to nearly derail the train while in a heated argument._**

 ** _Umbridge ignored our concern and stayed firm. Which lead to a terrifying wake up call later that night as something attacked the other paintings during Potter and Earthbound detention, creating this horrible screaming that abruptly stopped at the top of the castle. Turns out the chain reaction had started from Umbridge's office and the entire thing left Earthbound dealing with a panic attack and unable to use his right hand now._**

 ** _I'm scared mother, I thought we could deal with the haunted castle, that it was just Hogwarts being kooky and weird. But now? After watching a teacher accuse a student who is ill and noted to have abruptly changed in mood in demeanor of lying after being a victim of the Triwizard attack set up by a follower of You-Know-Who? Terrified. We'll be learning nothing and be stuck cowering as the Ministry runs around in circles._**

 ** _I'm going to try and deal with it until Christmas Break with Petals before I give my final verdict on leaving Hogwarts. But…I really want everything to calm down."_**

 _And that's only the icing on the cake. After the first month of school ended parents reported their children's letters being more stressed and strained as the chaos through the castle resumes and Umbridge asserts herself as a cruel, cold-hearted general trying to tie up loose ends. One mother reported how her son had sent her a letter talking about how she was grading the teachers on teaching them Ministry approved lessons and was actively harassing one of their teachers into falling apart at the seams and being put on probation for a time being._

 _More troublesome was the story of Potter's owl being attacked and his mail seemingly being read. We'll let you guess who the main culprit is behind that one. Hogwarts, the school that was originally coming under fire for Dumbledore questionable approaches to safety and tournament hosting is now on the back burner as we question why the heck the Ministry is attempting to install an iron grip on the student body._

 _That's right, DUMBLEDORE the lovable old coot who might be a bit to old to be at the helm of Hogwarts is innocent for once. The MINISTRY hired a bias, cold-hearted and questionable woman to teach the future generation not to defend themselves, but to accept that the MINISTRY is right and everyone else is WRONG._

 _Perhaps the Ministry was blind to her true colors, perhaps they did this on purpose. All I can say that the growing turmoil at the school is merely reflecting a painting that will soon to come light once someone manages to get the full story of what truly happened and if Voldemort—And come on now, I'm pretty sure EVERYONE agrees that something related to him is happening and we need to be wary—is real and if these brutish teaching style is needed after a stressful year of near losses and assassination—_

She turned the page with a sharp snap, nearly ripping it out of the book of _lies_ , a coil of anger burning in her chest as she studied the next article. The innocent article talking about neat decorations everyone could make at home for Christmas and News Years as well as some tips on staying warm with the snow storms hitting the coast of England.

Cutesy, innocent and full of _lies_. It burned her to the very core that she hadn't heard of the Mystic Informer earlier which had been pushing the big issues that _they_ wouldn't. Taking cheerful potshots at the Daily Prophet which had been ignoring the evidence of Voldemort's return as crime slowly blossomed in England, targeting Muggles with simple hexes and jinxes for some reason.

Running two of the wizarding world's greatest achievements through the mud with childish cheer and pointing out how both sides were failing the public and how something needed to change before the rift grew worse.

A paper that was being published by very cunning _muggles_ and _muggleborns_ -wizards who had betrayed not only the Ministry, but the wizarding world with this act of pandering to the Muggles, creating goofy stories to explain why the were talking about Hogwarts, about why they were worried for the 'celebrity' government and about why they were closely following Earthbound and his friends.

"Lies." Umbridge seethed, pulling her wand out when she stopped and collected herself. No, it wouldn't do to get riddled up over a simple problem, one which was driving a sword through her side with tempered venom. She'd solved worse problems, she'd silence more powerful people.

If they were going to make a fool out of her then she'd do the same. With a relaxed flip of papers she stopped at the very book of the 'magazine' which showed off their top writers who were smiling brightly and posing inside their office.

That accursed American Chip Adams and his cousin were at the fore front, posing besides a plain looking woman dressed up as a witch placing bunny ears behind a man with a pocket watch who was intently studying it as a woman with tidy black hair leaning against a broom lazily smiled at the camera.

 _Let's give a big hand for this month's top writers/photographers!_

 _From right to left,_

 _-Chip Adams—Lily Adams—Mary Sue—William Clockwork—Elizabeth Smith-_

 _Chip and William are from America helping out after a bit of legal trouble we had with the Daily Prophet. Feel free to pen them questions about how truly wacky America is! I was surprised to learn that they do NOT call chips 'chips' and instead call them 'French fries'._

And these were the five people who were writing about the wizard world the most. People who clearly knew to much and were active targets to her and the Ministry. She would deal with them, she _had_ to.

If the students learned that someone was speaking up for their warped idea of safety they would cling onto it and stir up even more trouble without needing Potter and Earthbound's help.

Two more thorns who's presence has gotten worse as time went on. She had been a fool to believe she could undermine Earthbound and reveal him as the lunatic he rightfully was. But then again, how was _she_ supposed to know that he had a strong connection with every house?

How was _she_ supposed to know that everyone treated Ness's word as law thanks to his hodgepodge of friends defending him? No matter how hard she tried to plant seeds of deceit and undermine him he bounced back harder than ever with his pathetic pity story of being traumatized by _nothing_.

If Harry was the living legend who had people flock to him just because then Ness was the peacekeeper, the one who smoothed out any problems anyone had with a house. She had thought she had won when she planted that idea of slinging dung at the Weasley's name at Qudditch.

She had been waiting as Harry and those troublesome twins moved to pummel Malfoy when Earthbound jumped into the fray, trying to stop them and speak reason as he physically fought back to protect Malfoy, his Slytherin friend pulling him back as a precaution when her plan blew up in her face.

Yes, she got one over Potter and that boy's older brothers. But her plan to have the seed Malfoy created to exclaim 'See! He is mad!' and undermine Potter and Earthbound blew up as the Slytherins merely kept to themselves.

Their arguments were still the same as they bickered with Ravenclaw daily and taunted Gryffindor over the smallest thing but…wait…had something shifted?

Her mind stilled at the idea of Slytherin changing its scales as she thought back to the start of the year. When Slytherin was still at Gryffindor's throats, supporting her with knowing smirks as she prepared to clean up Fudge's mess.

Then the 'panic attack' happened, and that meeting in the Boar's head where a small group of Slytherins had shown up for Potter's meeting if her little spy was being truthful—

Meeting. Her stomach violently churned as she realized with horror she was losing ground faster than she thought. The Slytherins there her spy reported had been scoping out Harry's idea of forming a defense club, they had gotten into an argument with every other house there but Earthbound and Karma quickly smoothed it out. Pointing out the true problem and weakening the walls that protect Slytherin from filthy Mudbloods.

Slytherin weren't simply 'arguing' with Ravenclaw…No, they were having _debates._ They had been smirking but in a gentle way as the Ravenclaw defended their point in the argument.

The room seemed to spin as she realized just how bad her situation was. She was being attacked by both sides, Slytherin had abandoned her and sooner or later more and more people would flock to Mystic Informer to keep an eye on their kids.

She couldn't defeat Slytherin.

She couldn't ban Mystic Informer from England, they had been in business since the start of the Wizarding War. It would have been easy for them to set up another branch close to England and cry foul.

What could she do…

What could she do?!

"What you've _always_ done Dolores." Umbridge muttered, taking a sip of tea and getting up to look out the window, to study the handful of students playing out in the winter snow. The castle had gone eerily quiet, as if someone had taken the attacks with them for some reason.

If so then maybe she could pin it on Earthbound. Prove that he was the behind all of this to stir up trouble for his plight. That he was guilty and working with the Death Eaters!

A wicked smile grew as she turned back to begin writing a letter to Fudge and the Daily Prophet. The cogs spinning in her mind as she finished writing and glanced at another idea that had been brewing.

A way to keep proper tags on the students and find out their true plans. Her own Prefects who would be lured in by the promise of power in the school in turmoil.

One way or another, she wasn't going to be forgotten. No, she would stand tall and point out the _real_ problems in the Wizarding World, the _real_ enemy they should look at.

The parasite known as Ness Earthbound and Cornelius Fudge.

Earthbound's fall would be immediate but Cornelius? Well, she'd deal with him after she burned Mystic Informer to the ground. Her eyes sliding over to a card a foolish guard had given her after agreeing to help with a certain 'attack' on Potter. Yes, perhaps this would be a Christmas to enjoy after all.

* * *

 **Don't worry Lupin, I also hate that feeling you forgot something but can't recall what. It happens way to often...- Also, Umbridge plotting? With her own section of text that give insight to her thoughts and plans?! Dun dun dun!**

 **Reviews! :D**

 **M1nhTre37- Maybe the prophecy has changed, maybe it hasn't, keep in mind that Harry isn't the only one with a prophecy looming overhead :3 (To actually answer your question, yea, Harry's prophecy is completely messed up somehow, I'm trying to be sneaky and mysterious for once. :3) Also, a magical jack hammer is a great idea! I'm going to use that description when I try and have someone explain why Magic+ PSI is bad. Also, it has a sort of official name, called Psy-Magic... That now seems like a pretty lame name now. Dang it!**

 **HelenTheMoon- Yea, Ron grated on my nerves SO much when I was reading the series, but not as much as Harry in book 6 and 7. Really dreading writing about how Ness changes it since I'll have to deal with a somewhat hot headed Harry with confident issues. -_- Although my take on Harry is probably a bit more bearable since he doesn't have the 'I am the chosen one' ego he got in Book 5. (Which got the best doggo wizard killed. Thx Harry.) Ironically Molly didn't seem very positive about muggle healthcare in the story since Arthur talks about getting stitches for the snake bite since it was such a huge injury.**

 **As for the doll's moveset, it's basically Earthbound lore since every PSI influenced enemy/normal enemy Ness and co faces had their own move sets which stated what they could or couldn't do with ease and little thought of how to perform. Ness's moveset/PSI attacks just got somehow got overwritten by the doll's when he was forced into its body. I'll try explaining that a bit better since Harry is still in the dark of movesets. ^-^**

 **Thanks for the reviews! And Happy Late Thanksgiving! I completely the forgot the day Thanksgiving was and thought it was the week after Thanksgiving... Whoops.**


	38. Chapter 38 Spiraling into Distrust

"So let me get this straight." Tony was saying as the trio walked to Kings Cross Station from the park across the street, the Sky Runner hidden in the woods to avoid another collection of odd and confusing stares. "Wizards have to walk through a hidden wall to reach the actual platform?"

"Yup, it's the easiest way to hide the group of people all wearing black robes." Ness explained, biting back a laugh as Jeff grumbled, "And no one notices people _running_ into walls to accomplish this. Unbelievable."

"Magic." Ness answered, grinning as Jeff glowered at him, "Right, so it's _magic's_ fault that everyone looks at me like I'm the devil when I park the Sky Runner."

"Maybe, this place is…normal, enough to be wary of aliens."

"Of course it is. Of _course_." Jeff huffed, slouching a little as he pulled a small box out of his pocket and began fiddling with some knobs. "Well, _magic_ aside, you understand the plan, right?"

He nodded and looked up at the smoggy sky, "End this madness by confronting the castle source and figuring out a way to get a certain teacher benched."

"Can't you just—complain to the school board about this?" Tony asked, slowing down for some reason as they grabbed a bench near the barrier to bide their time before bolting through the barrier, "I mean, she's denying you health care, breaking school rules and abusing her powers."

"True, but from what little politics Selvis told me about the school board is run by fellow Slytherins and a Ministry determent to keep the truth from leaking out." Ness replied, huffing in frustration at the walls locking the students from getting help or proper teaching. "For now, we're working on public opinion since this is effecting _everyone_."

"Hence the Mystic Informer and their strong push of informing everyone what's going on when the students cannot." Jeff added, fiddling with some sort of radar that was making a steady string of ticks as he turned a knob and tapped the screen. "Hogwarts may have the greatest headmaster ever, but that doesn't matter when you have worried and angry parents."

"Huh…This really bites then." Tony murmured, frowning at the unfairness as Ness poked the radar, "So what's this? Some sort of tracking device?"

Jeff nodded and switched it off, looking at the wall where the magical barrier was. "Since magic seems to be abundant in England I thought it would be best if I created a device that would show me the general area of wizards to try some…experiments."

"Uh…" Jeff quickly flushed and stammered, "Nothing illegal or dangerous of course! Just a way for me to combat wizards if they come after me or Tony!"

Tony eagerly nodded in agreement as Ness glanced around, searching for people uncomfortable in winter coats or wearing black hats before he risked asking, "How?"

"Electromagnetic waves turned into a high pitched noise to disrupt thought process or, _magic_." Jeff replied, looking a little excited, "I've been wondering how electronics would break the _moment_ it came into Hogwarts barrier and _why_ wizards would want that for simple radios, cell phones and other handhold items and I figured it out. Mostly." He pulled a small notebook out and showed him a picture of purple waves growing distorted as they crashed into what appeared to be electric signals.

"Distortion and interference." Jeff supplied, "Every electronic object or device that heavily relies on certain electromagnetic waves leaks _some_ radiation or white noise that can be deemed irritating for those who are sensitive enough to sense it on a daily basis. But for wizards it must be _more so_ since there so insistence on staying in the dark ages, taking electronic devices and creating _magical_ alternatives for personal use or comfort. Especially so if your basic means of communication is letter writing and owls. Tell me, do you hear any beeps at Hogwarts?"

"…No. Nothing. But that's because they don't _need_ electricity." Ness pointed out, now feeling weirded out at how utterly devoid of electronic white noise the castle was. He hadn't noticed it before since it was such a small thing but…yea, the castle was eerily quiet at night with only the snores and sounds of nature to keep him company at night.

"Don't need electricity and can't _handle_ it." Jeff corrected, "Think about it, Hogwarts is a school for young teens to study and learn magic. And what would be more distracting than a constant stream of electromagnetic white noise that could get locked within the castle walls? It would disrupt focus and increase distractions. And focus and a sound idea of what you want is a key factor for magic and PSI. Only more so for wizards since they aren't _used_ to being disrupted by white noise produced by machines!"

"Er…"

Jeff sighed and deadpanned, "I'm creating a gun that creates shrill beeps that utilizes an electromagnetic field and waves to force the target to falter and recollect their thoughts or better yet, gain a headache from the forcibly exposure and allow the user to disable their only means of attack."

"Ohhhh…Thanks."

Jeff rolled his eyes in disbelief as Tony laughed and glanced at the barrier before he frowned, "Hey Ness, do wizards have a spell for persuasion?"

"Yea, it's so muggles get distracted and leave a magical secret to protect wizards. The barrier probably has one to avoid people bumping into and tumbling into 91/2 platform."

"Huh…It isn't working very well." Tony noted, "I can still sort of tell where it is."

Weird, but that might be because he was indirectly exposed to PSI thanks to Giygas…Perhaps that gave him a second sense for this bit much weaker than Jeff's who was easily focusing on the barrier as he resumed fooling around with his radar.

"Well, there's no time like the present." Ness sighed, getting up and grabbing his trolley as Jeff and Tony followed suit, "Don't worry, I'll be sending you cookies through S-mail." Tony assured him, grinning as Ness faltered and repeated, "S-mail…" before he snickered at their idea.

"You might have to bribe her to do that, she didn't seem pleased about Tracey's idea of mailing a cake to me." Actually Nagini was furious by the idea and threatened to drop the cake out of a window if someone tried to make her do it. It was sort of funny to watch her indigently slither around Jeff's room huffing and hissing before she teleported back to Tracey to glare at her for a bit.

"Of course not. It's a dumb idea." Jeff stated, "I mean, who would want to eat a cake delivered by a toxic monster?"

"Dude, we ate _magic_ cake. Your argument is null." Ness reminded him, laughing as Jeff turned a bright red and tried to argue as Tony asked, "What is magic cake and should I be worried?"

"Why are we friends?" Jeff asked as they glanced around the busy station before charging into the barrier. The feeling of cold water being dumped on his head sending shivers down his spine as they stumbled out on the other side.

Breathing heavily from the magic that had tried to stop the two 'Muggles'.

"Bloody…you do this _every time?"_ Tony wheezed, leaning on the trolley as Jeff adjusted his glasses, looking a little pale as Ness slowly pushed the car forward into a small corner. Surprisingly, they were earlier than expected since they train hadn't arrived yet. Which was a little unsettling but understandable since Jeff insisted on waking up early to snoop around the magical platform before he had to leave.

"Yup. And it never gets any better." Ness replied, eyeing the small groups of parents waiting with their kids as they chatted. An air of nervousness and fear in the air that left a churning sea of guilt in his stomach. "Eating food prepared by magic is even _worse_."

"Probably because it's been coated in a form of magical radiation." Jeff murmured, studying the platform with a blank expression, thoroughly underwhelmed by the 'secret platform' the wizards had.

"You're _really_ determent to make sense out of magic." Ness noted, prompting Jeff to shoot him an unamused look that asked 'And you aren't?' that quickly killed his up coming joke, "That's what I thought." Jeff huffed, "While life may have some mysteries that may never be solved, I'm at least going to solve this mystery. This...anomaly."

The one that was messing with time and space it seemed, 'deflating' certain places from his mind or filling the void with something that didn't belong. Like Hogwarts. Or magic. Or wizards— Okay basically everything he was forced to deal with. And return to.

The thought leaving a weight on his mind as he heard the train whistle off in the distance and a plume of white smoke floating into the early morning sky. "Looks like it's nearly here…" Tony murmured, looking a little disappointed as more families trickled in through the barrier."

"So it seems." Jeff hummed, now fiddling with a collection of wires and metal screws as Ness adjusted his hat and looked at his friends, "You know, you guys didn't have to walk me onto the platform. Preeety sure you guys are skipping a day of school for this."

"And we have near perfect grades. You're point?" Jeff retorted as Tony casually placed his hands in his coat pockets, "I think my parents would understand that helping a friend is much more important than a day of school."

"Exactly."

"Guys…" Ness smiled and fought back tears, before he settled on lightly punching them, "You guys are awesome."

"Why do you show us this by delivering _pain_?" Jeff asked, rubbing his arm as Tony teased, "Karma for mauling us with snowballs."

"You two had it coming."

"I beg to differ."

"I still have the snowball launcher on me."

"Jeff, we don't need to explain to the cops _why_ there are so many wizards passed out on the station." Jeff shot him a glare as Tony snickered, "I'm sadly not that good an alibi."

"Remind me. Why do I hang out with you two?" Jeff dryly asked, fighting a smile as Tony and Ness laughed at his reply. A small moment of peace and happiness that was ruined by a roar of, "You _bastard!"_ and a cry of, "Look out!" that sent Jeff and Ness into battle mode.

Jeff reaching for his snowball launcher as Ness brought his arms up to defend himself from the surprise attack, frowning at the lack of effort put into the clearly furious attack. Perhaps it was a throw?

"Oy! What are you doing!?" Tony yelled as he lowered his arms, surprised to see that _Ron_ had attempted to punch him. His face a twisted mess of anger and something else…something darker.

"R-ron?! Er, could we talk this out?" He paled as he glanced around to see people watching them, some in surprise and others in confusion as Mrs. Weasley gripped one of the many trolley cars, trying to collect herself as she looked away. Trying to hide the grief and anger on her face that twisted his heart into an upside-down knot.

"Talk this out? Are you out of your mind!?" Ron snarled, moving to punch him again when Tony grabbed him, "Well it's a better alternative than starting a blooming fight!" Tony yelled, jerking him back and looking a little surprised that he couldn't pull Ron away.

"Ron, I understand you're going through a painful moment but attacking Ness isn't the answer." Jeff tried, stepping in front of him with his hands out. "Oh but attacking Saint Mungos is?!"

St. what now? Although…that name sounded oddly familiar. "Ron, I don't even know what that place _is_ and—wait, what do you mean attacking?!"

"Ness hasn't left the house! How could he attack a church?!" Tony demanded, grimacing as Ron yanked his arm free and tried to go for another punch, snarling. "Oh sure, play _dumb!_ But _you're_ the only one who could have done it!"

"Done _what?!"_ Ness demanded, bringing his arms up for another block as Ron tried to fight smart. Aiming for high and low blows as people realized this was serious and tried to figure out what to do. "Ron I can't attack people if I can't _see_ them!"

"Oh yea?! So you _didn't_ attack Dad by using that doll!? The doll that rampaged through Saint Mungos hours later?!"

"What?!" how had it—a thought chilled him to his core, his arms lowering in slight horror as he remembered that he never gave her an order to hide in the Ministry, that he had left her _body_ somewhere on the first floor. Giving her a chance to hitch a ride on a rushing paramedic and hide at the hospital.

And somehow, trigger her into attacking the hospital. But why? Why would she-, a flicker of pain forced his thoughts to jump into Attack mode, filling his vision with chaotic fire red lines swimming over a dried blood and black colored background as Ron relentlessly attacked. His blows while weak and merely chipping his health down, aggravating and garnering more attention from the growing crowd loosely beginning to move towards them.

"Will you stop screaming and listen!?" someone yelled, maybe Jeff since he appeared beside him, his name popping up in his 'party box' as he slammed into Ron. "We don't even know what your _talking_ about!" Jeff snapped, breathing heavily as Tony slowly appeared in the fog, pulling him forward and away from something, maybe a wall.

"Perhaps show us some evidence and explain yourself before you began howling like a child!"

" _I'm_ the child?!" Ron demanded, "I'm not the one who tried to murder someone _twice!"_

"I didn't even _mean_ for that to happen!" Ness replied, feeling sick. "It was wrong place wrong time Ron! Now _please_ calm down so we can talk somewhere private? And er, without painting ourselves as nutjobs?"

"Should have thought of that _before_ you came to our school— _before_ you entered our lives!" A spark of anger appeared through the growing migraine and waves of guilt as Ron hatefully glared at him. Probably wanting to kill—oh jeez…was that what that dark feeling was? That dark shadow painted over Ron's face?

The intent to kill? Or dish out some 'revenge'? "Last time I checked Ness didn't _ask_ for this." Tony retorted, stepping in front of him to try and act like a shield. Something he was a little grateful for since he wasn't sure how long he could just defend before he panicked and unleashed a Rockin' Beta on Ron. On the entire platform of wizards.

"He didn't ask for any of this! I _know_ it's hard to see a loved one hurt and then see the place there supposed to be safe at somehow attacked but will you _think for the love of god?!_ You're just making it worse!"

"No, I am _not-_ ," Ron started when a voice drawled, "Really Weasley? Since I'm starting to consider rewriting some lyrics to being changed to 'raised in a cave'."

"Who the hell-," Tony started when Ness murmured, "Draco Malfoy, he's er, a classmate of mine."

"Well he better be trustworthy before I blast _both_ of them with my gun." Jeff returned as the chaotic battle scene faded, revealing Malfoy looking at Ron as if he was a forgotten wad of gum found under his seat. "And here I thought you _Gryffindors_ were supposed to be buddy-buddy gullible lions of bravery." Malfoy sneered, "Did you take that blow of pride so badly that you decided to try and lash out against the only person who merely wanted to help your pathetic brothers?"

Ron stiffened, a growl emitting from his throat as Malfoy paused and corrected himself, "Sorry, I meant slightly better trained attack dogs."

"Are they really…?" Jeff asked, letting the question die as Ness merely shook his head, stating that it wasn't the time or place for that. "Shove off, this doesn't concern _you_." Ron snarled.

"Oh contrary, I think it does since as a fellow _prefect_ it's my duty to detain and report troublesome students to the head of house." Malfoy smoothly replied, "And, even though Earthbound is _your_ problem, I doubt McGonagall would be _thrilled_ to hear her prefect assaulting a classmate over that scuffle at the hospital. One caused by a wild spell that had harmed no one despite the terror and fear it left behind."

"What happened?" Jeff asked, evenly staring at Malfoy who seemed surprised by their lack of knowledge before asking, "You didn't even _know_ about it? It was in the news."

"I'm from America and don't really care about the news here." Ness deadpanned, hastily added, "Tony and Jeff haven't got a chance to read the Prophet yet, we got here early."

"Well, attacking _oblivious_ students—two of which don't even go to Hogwarts—over a petty grudge." Malfoy glanced at Ron in mock horror, "Nice going Weasley."

"He _knows-_ ," Ron started when Ginny yelled, "No he does not you git!" and Selvis joined them, looking a bit winded and sick as he shoved a paper into his hands. The headline screaming 'Fiery attack on St. Mungo's!' with a moving picture of sooty but thankfully uninjured wizards moving around a black and white hallway, cleaning up the burned rubble.

 _"As Christmas came to a close so did the infamous St. Mungo's. Around 4:36 the fourth floor lit up with a spell akin to Oppungo but much worse as items and furniture effected by it burst into flames and flew around the hallway, slowly making it's way to the second floor before the wizards on hand could douse the flaming objects and work on the fourth floor which was heavily damaged._

 _No one is sure what set if off or why but witness report that no one was dangerously harmed and the only proof of the incident were people reporting feeling lightheaded from smoke inhalation and ill patients fighting against the staff to get closer to the chaos. The Research Committee and Auror office of the Ministry are working to solve this mystery and ensure that this won't happen again. Oddly enough witnesses recall hearing a child giggle which leads us to believe that this is an improper use of magic by a possibly deranged child despite there being no reports of a young girl separated from her mother missing from the headcount of visitors. Speculations and official report from the Ministry on pg. 5."_

"Bloody…" Tony started, trailing off as Jeff gingerly took the paper to read the speculations on the case. All Ness could do was try not to have a meltdown from the guilt of leaving Sister Mary unaccounted for.

Even if a small rational part pointed out that he had no clue Sister Mary would follow Mr. Weasley to the hospital or attempt to burn the place down…or maybe escape. Actually, escaping seemed more believable if she hated wizards like the others.

"So Weasley, what's your proof that Earthbound attacked the hospital?" Malfoy asked, lazily studying Ron who was fuming in anger. Probably not able to think coherently as he spat, "He controlled the _doll!_ The same one that attacked Dad at the Ministry!"

"Right, the doll that no one has seen but you apparently." Malfoy pointed out, "Seems like you lost a few sickles over the holidays Weasley. Was the pressure of being the weakest link on the Qudditch team getting to you?"

"Shut up-,"

"Ron. Stop it." Tony ordered, "You're making it worse."

"And walking into a trap but who cares?" Selvis muttered as more students broke away from their parents, either emboldened by Malfoy's approach to stop the fight of wanting to stop Malfoy from making it worse.

"Me?!" Ron spluttered his hand curling into a fist when someone grabbed him—Longbottom if Ness remembered correctly and pulled him away, "Ron, breath. You're just causing a scene." Longbottom murmured, glancing uneasily at Malfoy then at him.

"He started this-," Ron started when Longbottom hissed, "No he didn't. I was _there_. I know what happened. _Stop it._ "

Malfoy debated on saying something but didn't, weird. Perhaps he thought the situation was better if diffused before he tried to annoy Longbottom.

"You can't seriously be siding with him." Ron stated the anger morphing into one of horror as he angrily gestured at Ness, " _He's_ behind the attacks at school! _He's_ the reason why we can't go three steps without something blowing up! He attacked my dad and sent him a bloody muggle hospital-"

"Proof."

Ron spluttered and looked at the source of the voice, his voice falling him as he saw a Ravenclaw girl—a fellow prefect judging by how she was asserting herself with pride and control. "Where's your proof?" the girl repeated, looking at Ron with a hint of disappointment.

"It's because he's a PSI user or something!" Ron yelled gesturing at Ness who watched, feeling numb to it all as his head pounded with a rush of emotions and an overexposure to magic.

"PSI _what?"_ the girl repeated, her image cracking a little as Malfoy rolled his eyes, "Trying to wriggle out of this with lies? Hasn't Professor Umbridge informed Harry of the consequences of that?"

"Harry can-," Ron started when Selvis interrupted, "Oh sure, your _best friend_ , _known_ for getting in and out of trouble without any consequences can get _you_ out of _your_ mess. Shove off Ron, you're angry and trying to make a problem where there is none."

"I am not-," Ron tried when Longbottom jerked on his arm, hissing, _"Come on."_ And dragging him back to Mrs. Weasley…who appeared to be getting glared at by a couple mothers as they hugged students' years one and two close to them.

"Git." The girl grumbled before she returned to a girl who looked exactly like her, perhaps she was a Patil?

"You okay?" Tony asked, gently nudging him as Ness blinked and forced himself to breath. "Define 'okay'." Ness dryly replied, feeling sick under the weight of 'it's my fault' playing over and over again in his head.

"Better than dead." Selvis replied with a small nervous scowl, glancing at Ron who was fuming and being glared at by Ginny and a baffled Hermione who was yelling at him for attacking a fellow student. Blissfully out of the loop as Harry tried to explain what happened but couldn't. Looking sick as he tried to decide what to do.

"Is he _always_ a jerk?" Jeff suddenly asked, looking disgusted as he stared at Ron, "I mean, it's understandable that he's grieving over such a big change. But _really?"_

"The saying 'Gryffindors attack first ask other questions later' is coming true." Selvis mused, "But yes, Ron almost always seems to act like this, he abandoned Harry for somehow putting his name in a magical cup that lead to him and Ness nearly dying."

"He did what." Jeff looked at Ron then at Ness who forced a small smile, "See? And you thought your people problems were bad."

"What is _wrong_ with this school." Jeff muttered, jumping as the train whistled, reminding everyone that it had pulled in amidst during the verbal and physical fight. "Everything." Ness offered, barely registering that he was grabbing the trolley cart as Tony grumbled, "That and the fact that Ron is a blooming prick."

"Ginny would be glad to hear that." Selvis stated, glancing at the girl in question who had oddly not come to his aid. Had Mrs. Weasley stopped her? Or did she think her presence would worsen the fight?

"Well, come on, we have torture to resume attending." Selvis stated, nudging him forward as Jeff and Tony glanced at the train before exchanging good bye hugs and promises to stay in touch with their S-Mail.

"Do I dare ask…?" Sevlis asked, glancing at Ness who murmured, "Later." As he pushed his trolley into the train, a little surprised to see Malfoy following them. His smug and cool demeanor flickering a little as he debated something.

"Hey, Malfoy." The boy glanced up as Ness shoved his cart into the first empty room he saw, "Thanks, for the help. I probably would have shut down and made it worse if you and Selvis didn't step in."

Malfoy sneered but the cold energy behind it seemed forced, "Don't be, I'm merely repaying you for protecting me from getting pummeled to death by those brutes."

"It's no problem, I mean, yea it was really low of you to do that but them beating you up would have just proved your point." Ness replied, a small smile appearing before it faded at Malfoy's quiet, "It…wasn't entirely my idea."

"What do you-," he started when he paused and thought who would benefit from Harry getting kicked off the team, someone other than the Slytherin Quidditch team in getting a better chance at winning. "Did…Umbridge?"

Malfoy glanced away, his eyes sharp with an emotion he desperately wanted to hide as he muttered, "She overheard me…talking to Gregory and Vincent about the upcoming match and how pathetic it was to see Weasley trying to play without a lick of confidence and started humming, we didn't know she was listening in since we were to wrapped up in talking about how great it would be to see Potter's best friend make a complete dunce out of himself. We asked why she was humming and she told us it she heard a song someone had once sang at the Quidditch World Cup to increase everyone's morale. That gave us the idea to create a song and have everyone sing it at the match."

"She manipulated you into nearly getting beat up." Selvis breathed, looking sick as Malfoy scowled, "I didn't think that far ahead, I just got caught up in the moment of having a small victory over Perfect Potter."

"She's just messing with everyone." Ness murmured, feeling angry that Malfoy had been taken advantage, a fellow Slytherin who merely wanted to settle a score he believed he had with another student only to be turned into a scapegoat for Ron's public embarrassment.

"Well it wasn't that hard sadly." Malfoy grumbled, the train lurching to life under their feet, "Everyone was sick and tired of hearing Lee Jordan bashing us during games, of how outclassed we are seemed compared to _Perfect Potter_. They didn't think twice when I revealed the idea."

"I thought it was pretty good until I remembered Ginny." Selvis sheepishly admitted. As Ness leaned against the door, adjusting his hat for a semblance of calm of Malfoy coughed and turned to leave, "Anyway, just wanted to tell you that. Thought it would make us officially even."

"I never even-,"

 _"Officially. Even."_ Malfoy repeated, a warning edge in his voice before he left to join his friends. Leaving him and Selvis to watch him leave before they stepped inside and closed the door behind them.

"Are you alright?" Selvis blurted out, looking worried as Ness collapsed on the couch, "I came through the barrier just in time to see Ron try and pin you up against the wall."

"I'm fine. Wizards don't excel in hand to hand combat, plus. I was defending until I could figure out what to do." He gingerly tapped his lightly bruised stomach and mumbled, "Wasn't sure if I would make it worse if I attacked back."

"It wouldn't have mattered. Everyone could hear Ron yelling before Malfoy and Patli went to confront him." Selvis assured him, "Little surprised to see Glasses try and fight him though."

"Ron should be thankful he didn't blast him with the snowball launcher. That thing _hurts_."

"Snowball-,"

"Jeff fights with guns and other weapons he's created." Ness explained, "And yesterday, we were playing an intense snowball fight to the death before we got…guests."

"Guests? Good lord just how out of the loop am I?"

"Not that out of the loop." Ness sighed before he explained his newest discoveries, how Mr. Weasley was doing then with a nervous glance around the room Nagini.

Selvis looked at him in mute horror before whispering, "Is it possible…for me to pet her?"

"…Really?"

"I've wanted a pet snake since I was five alright!?" Selvis retorted, flushing a bright red and looking away, "Besides…S-mail? That actually sounds useful."

"It will be." Ness replied, "She's going to drop off letters in my bed and wait for me to hand her any to send back. As long as no one opens my curtains no one will know. Hopefully."

"Giving you a breather to send mail without the fear of a certain toad reading it."

"Yea…Not sure how Ginny's going to react to it."

"Er…yea."

He glanced up and frowned at the sight of Selvis squirming a little, "What? What is it?"

"Well, she might get over her dislike soon enough since er, according to a letter Luna sent me she's been er, banned from seeing you again."

"Wait—they don't think I'm her boyfriend to they!?"

"No? I mean, maybe? I don't know—no wait, not seeing you like that! Like, interacting!" Selvis spluttered looking at him in disbelief as before he clarified himself, "I _mean_ she's forbidden to see you as a _friend._ Like how it was taboo to see a Gryffindor and Slytherin having _friendly conversation_ before you showed up!"

"Oh…OH." He leaned back, unsure how to feel as he managed a weak chuckle, "Makes sense…I _did_ attack her husband."

 _"Indirectly."_ Selvis snapped, "Now stop having a pity party and cheer up, there's _something_ to look forward to now!"

"…Who are you and what have you done with Selvis?"

"I will _gladly_ resume ignoring you once Luna shows up to spout random nonsense."

"Ignoring? Don't you mean looking at me in disbelief and horror at my 'crazy' life?"

"That too."

That got an actual smile to form before Selvis took his revenge by grilling him about Paula, asking if they finally tied the knot as Ness flushed and yelled at they weren't even dating. Prompting Selvis to try playfully guilt tripping him.

"If you don't hurry up she might find someone else to coddle to death~!" he teased, cackling as Ness reached for his coat to throw at Selvis, "Keep talking _Dad_! I've got plenty of ammo to throw at you!"

"And this is why I hate you." Selvis deadpanned before he changed the topic, "So, how do you plan on solving the castle problems?"

"Simple, grab the Room and try and summon all of them."

"And if that doesn't work…?"

"…"

"You're hopeless." Selvis deadpanned as Ness spluttered, "Well it's better than nothing!"

"Sure, sure." He scoffed.

The rest of the train ride went smoothly, as did the ride back up to the castle where the few brave students who had stayed over the holidays greeted them with small smiles. Bags under their eyes as they caught their friends up with what had happened before dinner.

"So…are you doing it after…?" Selvis questioned, grimacing as Ness nodded yes, there was no better time than the present. And it would be better to clear up this attack mess now before it got worse.

"Alright, I'll try and give Luna a heads up." Sevlis murmured before he followed his fellow Slytherins to put his luggage up. _"Hopefully things haven't been to crazy…"_

Nothing _seemed_ out of place as Ness organized his trunk and peered inside his bed, a small bubble of warmth forming as he saw two letters peeking out from his pillow. Most likely from Paula and Tracey. It was tempting to read them but that could wait.

Dinner was…morose, and for once it wasn't because of the castle. No, it was because Ginny was stuck sandwiched between Fred and George who were having a hushed conversation with one another. Ron was, well, glaring daggers at him but was greatly subdued.

Harry was looking at him as well, but with a blank expression as if he wasn't sure what to think about him at the moment while Hermione seemed…very uptight about something as she hissed and jabbed at Ron, gesturing around them at the students whispering around them.

His stomach dropped as he heard a flurry of whispers bouncing around him, "Weasley—the younger one went completely bonkers on the platform."

"I thought he and Earthbound were buddies!" and, "I heard Ron lost his prefect status!"

Followed by murmurs talking about the story in the Daily Prophet and asking if anyone they knew had been there in the accident. He tuned those out, choosing to look up at the teachers. Kale was chatting Professor Trawlany about something, Professor Snape was as usual, glowering at the Gryffindors in-between saying something to Dumbledore. Everyone else was chipper and happy while Professor Toad…huh, she actually looked like she had swallowed a toad.

 _"Wonder what happened over the holidays…? Did she finally get a warning letter from the higher ups?"_ Maybe, but that would be to much to hope for. So instead he pictured that the words of Mystic Informer finally got to her and resumed his dinner.

 _"Alright…Now to actually figure a way up to the Room of Requirements-,"_

"Earthbound," he jerked up, surprised to see Professor McGonagall waiting beside the Great Hall door, "Oh uh, Professor, what is it?" Had Ron somehow convinced her the truth? He doubted it given Ron's temper but…it was still a valid fear, especially if _Harry_ got in on it.

"The Headmaster wants to see you."

"What for?" Oddly, Professor McGonagall didn't answer, she merely pursed her lips and dodged the question, "Follow me."

"But-," he trailed off and swallowed his complaints. Ron had already made a scene because of him. He didn't want another all because Professor McGonagall was being weird. Surely she knew what he truly was. Was she acting odd because she was scared of him?

No, put that thought out of your mind and focus on something else Ness. He had a mission to do, and that meant dealing with the man who had sentenced him to this castle of doom and despair.

"He's here." Ness shot her a worried frown as the door closed before Dumbledore could turn around to think her. "Mr. Earthbound, please sit down." He warily eyed the chair before doing as told.

Trying to force himself to relax as his migraine worsened, his good mood rapidly crumbling away as he found himself looking at the man who had sentenced him to these daily nuisances and endless questions.

A surge of anger formed as Ness swallowed the angry scowl that wanted to appear on his face. "I trust you had a good Christmas?" Oh lord he wanted to do small talk. Was this a trap? Should he be prepared for something?

Guarded he slowly answered, "Depends on the person. Why do you want to know."

"Merely curious." The man replied with a light hum as he prepared a cup of tea, "Would you like some? It's peppermint."

"I don't drink tea. Now what do you want?" Dumbledore didn't seem fazed by the anger lingering in his tone as he took a small sip from his cup before lowering it. His foggy eyes locking with his as Ness's scowl broke free.

"Straight to the point I see…" Dumbledore mused, "Although, given how exciting your Christmas has been I can see why."

"You know, don't you?" Did Dumbledore somehow set up a information network of his own? If so, then with who? Oh wait, that was an obvious answer. Probably every friendly adult Harry had ever met. After all, _he_ was the man who put Mr. Weasley in a precarious predicament.

"Know what? You have to be a little specific-,"

"Mr. Weasley. You know _everything_ that happened since you put him there!" Dumbledore didn't even flinch when the tea cup and kettle rattled on the desk, a spiderweb of cracks forming as Ness glared the man down. "Why did you put here them? Why _him!?_ Don't you have trained wizard guards on your payroll?"

"I don't hire anyone to-,"

"To what?! Act like a scapegoat?! If it wasn't for Harry-,"

"And you,"

"And me—SO YOU DO KNOW!" Dumbledore gently tapped his cracking tea cup and took another sip, the warmth never leaving his eyes as he studied him. Making him feel small and almost…vulnerable as Ness glared back at him.

"Yes, I do know." Dumbledore finally answered, figuring out that being vague wasn't the answer. "Harry informed me everything that happened with a letter the night before."

Great, "So, what do you want from me?" Ness asked, forcing himself to calm down a little and try and predict where Dumbledore would take the conversation.

He would either ask how Ness got into the doll, how much Ness knew or where the doll came from. Questions he only had one truthful answer to and wasn't planning on sharing.

Not until Dumbledore started telling the truth. "I merely wish to help you," Dumbledore informed him, his words earning a small snort of disbelief, "It's worrisome to hear that you and Harry managed to take a backseat to another being's thoughts and body. A rare case of a telepathic connection to another being, Legilimency."

"Legil…what?" He didn't…have that, right? Wait, no of course not! He was merely influenced by Giygas and his fears which required an entirely different route to remove the alien's power over him! Also, why did Dumbledore believe he and Harry had the same problem?

It wasn't his mind and soul that had been transferred like it had to safely reach Giygas, but his soul allowing him to retain his state of self but not his abilities which had been tied into muscle memory and the subconscious. Was this something Dumbledore wasn't knowledgeable about?

If so, he wasn't going to correct the man. This would stay his little secret to ensure that the wizards didn't discover that the soul and mind could be separated.

"Legilimency is a spell that allows the user to travel the planes of another person's mind. Some refer to it as 'Mind reading' even though it is much deeper than that." Dumbledore was saying, oblivious to how Ness had been tuning him out for almost a full minute. "Harry somehow has a telepathic connection to Voldemort's mind which allowed him to see Voldemort's will being carried out by his pet snake."

He focused all of his thoughts on Voldemort to avoid his own mind being read. Just in case. But that explained why Harry could see but couldn't act while was trapped in the snake's mind. He was an observer, not a pilot.

"And now you want Harry to try and get rid of that connection before it goes both ways." Ness guessed, his stomach dropping when Dumbledore nodded and said, "And you."

"I don't have a telepathic connection to Voldemort."

"And yet you still ended up in the doll's body and mind."

He wasn't going to wriggle out of this one without revealing something vital, was he? "And while as weird as that is, need I remind you that I _don't have magic?"_

"True, but you share a form of mental powers. One that could easily be turned against you if someone could corrupt your mind."

 _"Hah. Already happened gramps."_

"I can protect my own mind thank you very much." Ness stated getting up to leave when Dumbledore stopped him, a weird…edge in his voice, "Ness, I understand you wish to distance yourself from all of this chaos but it is vital that you join Harry in his private classes with Snape to learn Occlumency."

"I'll consider that when you explain to the Weasleys' _why_ their father and husband was keeping guard at his job." Ness retorted, feeling uneasy as the warmth seemed to…die in Dumbledore's eyes.

"Ness, do you know what happens if one is unable to protect their mind?"

"Yea, they lose their power if their gifted and _die_." Dumbledore didn't seem prepared for that as his body stiffened, his eyes widening by a millimeter before relaxing. Did…did he not know what happened when magic and PSI were overused on a wizard or PSI user?

"I can protect my mind. I protected it from Barty Crouch Jr. when he tried to use Impero on me." And that had ended up with the man following his own commands thanks to his resistance. He doubted Snape wanted to endure something as embarrassing as that.

"I see…at least take it into consideration then." Dumbledore said.

"If it helps you sleep at night." Ness grumbled, leaving without another word as he teleported the Room of Requirements where his friends were waiting. "Oh good. The castle didn't eat you up." Selvis joked as Ness stumbled and nearly tripped over a random chair.

"I doubt the castle's _that_ evil." Ness retorted, pushing himself up as Luna hummed, "Who knows? Hogwarts is growing darker and darker by the second."

"It wouldn't be so dark if you took the shades off." Selvis pointed out as Ness looked around, a little relived to see Ginny standing beside Luna, her arms tightly wrapped around her "So er…" he started faltering when he realized he had nothing to really say to Ginny. "Er, how's Ron?"

"Hopefully realizing that he's a giant git." Ginny growled, her grip on her arms tightening as Selvis scoffed, "He'll never realize it."

"Er…right, sorry about bringing it up." Ginny's grip seemed to loosen a bit as she mumbled, "It's alright, you're worried and feel like its your fault my family's lost it."

"The attack was that bad?" Selvis asked, "No one was hurt according to the papers."

"Physically, hurt." Ginny corrected, "Everyone was scared out of their minds. It was just confusion and terror happening until they managed to put everything out."

"That must have been awful." Ness murmured, remembering how quiet and solemn Longbottom seemed as he pulled Ron away.

"It was. Not as awful as the night after that. Pure chaos." Ginny grumbled before Luna changed the topic, "So, you're going to try and summon whatever is haunting the castle?"

"Yea, Jeff wants me to try and create an information network so we can get some answers around here." Ness glanced around the mostly empty room, feeling a bit nervous as he went on, "I'm sick and tired at drawing at the straws for nothing so…yea."

"I'll be hiding behind this table." Selvis informed him, ducking behind a turned over table as Ginny scoffed, "How is _that_ going to help?"

"It'll bring me comfort Weasley. That's how it'll help."

"You should get a three sided table then-,"

 _"Luna."_ Luna merely smiled as Ness looked at the center of the room and moved towards it, their bickering and bantering dying as Ness stopped and closed his eyes.

Feeling uneasy as he focused, searching for something in the sea of magically charmed items before he cautiously called out in his mind, _"If you can hear me then…please appear in the room I'm standing in."_

…

…

Nothing. Perhaps…perhaps he _wasn't_ influenced by Giygas after all, or…maybe they stopped seeking him out. _"Hello? Is…is anyone there?"_

…

…

 ** _"We heed your call Master."_**

A shiver ran down his spine, a comforting one as he opened his eyes to see random items falling from the ceiling or appeared on the walls. A ragged teddy bear, the painting that had upset all the other paintings at the start of the year, a floating robe with patches and rips from overuse and lack of care, a trio of spell books with the titles scrambled into gibberish, a broom with wooden arms that carried a stuffed owl, a Jester doll with a dice design and finally, Sister Mary.

The objects quickly shifted, electingg yelps from his friends as they scrambled into a line with Sister Mary and the jester doll at the front. Their leaders.

"Who are all of you?" Ness asked, gesturing that it was okay as the Jester doll shifted from foot to foot, seemingly excited as it dropped into a bow _"Friends call me Cashino! Yes, yes! I have been very, very busy gathering supports for the cause Master!"_

"Gathering…?"

 _"Of course, of course!"_ the fixed smile on the doll's face seemed to tighten as they straightened, _"A wizard cast a spell on me, a nasty one, a spell that was supposed to duplicate me to fool his friends! But it failed, oh so failed. Gave me a royal flush of attacks to us and friends to create!"_

"So, you used those powers to create people who would follow my commands." Ness guessed, noticing how eager all the objects were.

 _"Yes! Yes! Perfect roll!"_

"Which means you guys have been attempting to close down Hogwarts."

The painting gave a deranged giggle followed by a rush of jarring noises before floating robe translated, their voice faded and worn like their body. _"Paint says, of course. You wished for it to close, deeming wizards troublesome and dangerous. So, we did just that. Attempt to close the school by pulling tricks on everyone."_

 _"No one seemed to care about the messes we maid! I bent my straws trying to create wonderful messes!"_ the broom huffed, its hands twitching in frustration as Cashino eagerly nodded, _"But it appears Master has a new job for us! Snake eyes! Snake eyes!"_

"Yea…something like that." Ness answered, wondering if this was a bad idea as he eyed the bouncing objects, "But first, what are you names? I know Cashino and Sister Mary but…"

A chorus of, _"Oh of course!"_ and gibberish rose up before Cashino dutifully introduced everyone with a relaxed smile. Making his head swim a bit as he processed the names.

The broom was Sweepy, the trio of books were Defe, Potio and Herbo, the painting was…Paint, the robe was Cloak, the owl was Sawdust and the teddy bear was Bearable.

 ** _"Pleasure to meet you Master!"_** they chorused, looking thrilled as Ness glanced at his friends one last time before replying, "Nice to meet you all." And turned to Sister Mary, who was waiting with her hands 'clasped' and her eyes glowing with pride.

"So er, Sister Mary did you attack St. Mungo's? The hospital?" he quickly reached out so the others could hear her answers as Sister Mary gave a surprised titter of joy, _"W-well! I wouldn't go as far and say ATTACKED but, to be frank. Yes, I attacked."_

"Why?" Ginny blurted out, cringing as the objects stiffened and looked at her, clearly not pleased by her presence, "Why did you try and hurt so many people?"

 _"…"_

"Please answer Sister Mary," Ness prompted, hating how obedient the doll was, "She's a friend. They all are."

 _"Oh, very well. I wasn't trying to HURT anyone, heavens above no. I was merely trying to flee before that wretched multicolored witch attacked me for spying on them."_

"Multicolored witch?" Luna murmured frowning when Ginny clarified, "She probably means Tonks, she showed up just as we left to meet up with you and your dad."

"Hold on, you were spying on them? Why?" Selvis asked prompting Sister Mary to huff, _"Why wouldn't I? I was stuck in that room thanks to those Healer blokes and deemed it an excellent time to get more information from such high ranking wizards. And before you say it's rude the bear was listening in as well!"_

"Bear?" Ness questioned, glancing at Ginny who paled and whispered, "Some sort of American Doctor helper left one on Dad's bedside table."

"American doctor? Did you get a name?" Ness asked.

"Sort of…? I know her last name was Jones and that she managed to cure Harry's paralysis with a lollipop. She never really said she was American, I just guessed." Ginny admitted, scowling at herself for not paying closer attention as Sister Mary coughed and brought the focus back on her.

 _"Anyway, I wouldn't worry about the bear, they happily informed me they were working with the nurse to observe and gain information. They don't have a single attack move."_

"Teddy bears can tank a lot of damage from any enemy attack." Ness deadpanned when Selvis shot him a baffled look, "That aside, what do you mean, 'information'?"

The room dropped in temperature as Sister Mary's clasped hands tightened in anger and disgust, her comrades all growing uneasy or angered as she murmured, _"Yes, information…very, very important information."_

"Was…was it bad information?" Luna gingerly asked, cringing as they heard a small creak of wood, _"No, no…just…horrific information."_ Sister Mary replied, her voice shaky and hollow as she dropped her hands to her side and straightened. Her eyes seemingly dimming as she started speaking.

 _"They first started talking about you and this Harry fellow somehow forming a link, a link that was forged during the events of a 'graveyard' that might have allowed you to follow him to the Ministry and Nagini. They were worried about your appearing in that…ROOM but soon moved over to something more troublesome…deadly."_

"A bloody secret?" Selvis pressed paling as Sister Mary went on, seemingly in a trance, _"The blonde man was worried that the reason you went after Harry was to find out what happened to the 'others'. The other children blessed with PSI. He was worried…you would find out about the purge."_

"Purge." Ness repeated, feeling sick as Sister Mary dully continued, _"'Aurors' were ordered to track down and exterminate all PSI 'infected' children in Europe. To prevent another incident happening I believe. A woman with red hair, one who I do not care to name was shocked for a mere moment before she resumed ranting about you being a danger and wishing you were back in a America. That was all I found out before the blonde man sensed my anger and outed me to the bloodstained witch."_

"Uh…" Ness managed as Sister Mary quickly corrected herself, _"Fine, Witch scum. Although I think this German name would be a lot better for her and her group-,"_

"Moving on!" Ness interrupted, "Did…did they mention anything else? About the purge?"

"Ness," Ginny started, looking torn with pity and unease when Sister Mary nodded, _"Sort of, the man also mentioned that Unspeakables took them into custody but…only they know what happen to those children."_

"Oh my god…" Selvis breathed as Luna murmured, "So that's what happened to Belinda…she was…"

 _"Wizards are truly the scum of the earth…"_ Cloak rasped, _"They solve their problems with simple minded actions and don't work to see their fruit blossom. I've heard rumors…stories from other robes stored from the War…About how they created a solution to protect themselves but never watched tended the seeds after planting them…never seeing the flowers bloom…creating a giant mess."_

"Did…did they mention what mess it was?" Ness asked, really hoping Cloak didn't as he found himself struggling to breath. Singling that he was about to have another panic attack.

 _"No…they all say they 'forgot' it's…quiet sad."_ Cloak admitted as Defe rustled its pages, _"Master, if the wizards are worried about you forming a link with Potter then they might force you into Occlumency, a mental form of torture."_

"Torture?!" Ginny exclaimed as Luna mused with a small frown, "Occlumency is supposed to teach one how to close their mind from a dangerous type of magic, but since it's magic reaching into one's mind…"

"Yea, Dumbledore brought it up." Ness croaked, the room swaying a bit as he forced himself to sit down and breath, "He was really, really insistent on it, I think he actually got _angry_ at me when I refused."

"Angry—Hold on, what if he wants to use to gather more information about you?!" Selvis exclaimed flushing as Luna mused, "I never thought you were one for paranoia theories Selvis,"

He glared at Luna before continuing, "Think about it, the best way to defend yourself against is to experience it over and over again! Which means someone could just rummage around your mind!"

 _"They can try."_ Bearable growled, it's buttoned eye spinning in a slow circle as the other stayed still, _"I've experienced Occlumency, or better named Legilimency. The wizard who'd done it gained a massive migraine trying to rummage through my thoughts. It was brief, but they managed to disable my Shield attacks in their haste to close the link."_

"Oh, this just gets better and _better_." Ness managed before he passed out. The idea that wizards had exterminated… _killed_ kids like him just because they were unknown and powerful making him sick beyond belief. He felt even worse when he could see the justifications behind it, the struggle wizards had against people like him.

Why oh why was he so easy going? Able to see the problem usually from both sides? Those questions never got answered, no, instead they derailed him into the past. Allowing him to see children—happy, innocent, oblivious children—running around as a blood stained wizard slowly approached them, a wand out and preparing to cast the spell.

The spell that left a sickly green haze, the smell of death, the inhuman screams as it bared down on the victim, over, and over an r—

 _"Master!"_ With a sharp gasp he sat up, or tried to. Nagini was resting on his chest, her tongue rapidly flicking in and out of her mouth in a worried gesture as she poked his forehead with her snout, _"Are you alright master? Do you require comfort cookies from 'mother'?"_

He opened his mouth to speak when he noticed a wall of soft red around him and the subtle movement of people getting ready for something around him with a soft glow of something bright peeking through the cracks in the walls.

He closed it and looked back at Nagini, noticing the small bundle of letters gently tied around her stomach and the small mailhat on her head, _"Nagini, am I in bed?"_

 _"Yes, you sort of just…fell from the sky wearing that robe into bed."_ Nagini glanced at the robe before huffing in annoyance, _"You nearly landed on me."_

 _"Er…sorry, I fainted from shock."_

 _"Understandable, a red head came to check on you after a bit, looking relived that you were in bed."_

Ginny hopefully, he _really_ didn't want to discover it was actually Ron—who might strangle him in his sleep at this point—or one of the twins. But how did he even get into bed in the first place? No one but him knew how to teleport—

 _"Good…morning."_ Nagini had to wrap around his head to muffle his screech as he felt the robe _move_ around him, the sleeves and back stretching as he was forcibly sat up. _"Oh dear…it seems you've had a nightmare."_ Cloak murmured as Ness went through a long panicky list of, _"BROWHATTHEHECKWHATHAPPENEDANDWHYAMIWEARINGYOU?!"_

As Nagini nervously looked around, watching for helpful 'neighbors' worried about someone being late for breakfast. _"Ah, we deemed it the best action since you were knocked out cold. My old master used to apperiate quite a lot, and that transferred into a Teleport Beta with less spinning. Very useful."_

 _"Okay…so, they used you to get me here?"_

 _"Yes,"_

 _"And er, the others?"_

 _"Well, Paint is off harassing people as usual, Sister Mary is inspecting everyone for wounds, Sawdust is enjoying haunting 'Ginny', the books are dozing in your bookbag—they like to be close to people you see—Sweepy and Bearable and setting up an attack on the toad and let's see…ah yes, Cashino decided to watch Dumbledore, deeming him a worrisome foe."_

 _"I see…Um, do you think the others would be up for less destruction and more spying?"_

 _"We would…"_ Ness jumped out of his skin as Defe gave a yawn only a book could produce and sleepily murmured, _"No one suspects a book forgotten by a first year. We can easily lie around classrooms or relax in the library."_

 _"Indeed,"_ Potio agreed, _"Although, I hope more vital information comes from the library, I do enjoy learning from other potion books."_

 _"Learning?"_ Ness questioned, pleasantly surprised as Herbo explained, _"Yes, yes, we were made for school and our powers revolve around those barbarians' spells. I'm quite skilled with earth Psy-Magic—it's what we like to call our chaotic powers—and knowledgeable on plants and their life span."_

 _"That…might come in handy later."_ Ness decided before he glanced at Nagini and her bundle of letters sent by Paula, his mother and Jeff. Jeff was probably a reminder so he ignored that and focused on the one from Paula which was a brief check up on him and insisting that he didn't leave anything out from his school weeks.

 _"Thanks Nagini, I'll have some letters for when you get back."_ Ness promised, smiling as Nagini huffed, _"You better."_ And teleported away. Leaving him to scramble to get ready and look as if he _hadn't_ slept in his clothes from the day before as he rushed to breakfast.

 _"Hmm…Looks like the toad is happy about something."_ Cloak mused as Ness sat down, a small pang of loneliness hitting him as Ginny was once again stuck by her brothers. The pang morphed into anger as he glanced up at Umbridge who seemed happy about something she was readying in the news. _"That's never good."_ Ness thought, glancing at his neighbor—Neville who looked stunned.

"Hey, what's going on in the news?" Ness asked, "Is it something big?"

"Er, well, not really." Neville murmured, glancing up from the paper, "But er, it appears that the Death Eaters have attacked a magazine company after a massive break out from Azkaban."

"What?"

 _"This doesn't sound good."_

"Yea, it's called the Mystic Informer and the reason behind it was because they support muggles." Nevile was saying, but his words turned into a blur of static as he looked at the toad, the smug toad who had found a way to attack the few people printing the truth and supporting him at Hogwarts.

 _"That slimy little-,"_ Cloak started as Nevile said something, "Sorry, I sort of blacked out." Ness lied, swiftly focusing on the confused boy, "What was that?"

"Oh, I was just saying that no one was really hurt." Nevile repeated, glancing at Ginny then back at him, "Er, are you and Ginny okay?"

"Fine, I just…" indirectly attacked her father and got banned from talking with her without the fear of death. But of course, he couldn't say that. So instead he fibbed feeling awful as every foul word left his mouth, "She's just trying to keep a closer eye on Ron. Worried he might try and take it out on me again."

And Neville gullible believed it, giving him a pitying smile and assuring him that Ron merely needed time to cool off and focus on healing instead of attacking others out of grief. Not even asking why Ron blamed him in the first place as he resumed eating breakfast.

Leaving Ness sick as he did the same, trying to build up some strength before he had to face the smug toad in class today. Of course, that all flew out the window. As usual.

 _"So, you're stuck with Snape?"_ he perked up and glanced at Cloak who swiftly answered, _"Sawdust, he's more of a parrot than an owl. Sorry."_

As Sawdust continued, _"Yea…and apparently Dumbledore wants me to try and persuade Ness about needing Occlumency."_

 _"I suppose, kicking him out of school isn't an option?"_

 _"Ron,_ _drop it_ _, Ness wasn't in control of his actions!"_

An angry scoff but no follow up from Ron.

 _"Besides, both you and Ness_ _need_ _this!"_

 _"No we do not! I'm perfectly fine-,"_ Harry abruptly stopped, probably recoiling from a fierce glare as Hermione picked up the conversation, _"One class. Both of you. It's bad enough if…You know who gets into your head but we can't let Ness suffer and make a horrible mistake!"_

 _"Why are acting like HE'S the victim?! HE started this whole mess!"_

 _"Ron-,"_

 _"Don't you lecture me Hermione!_ _You weren't there!"_ At this point Ness didn't even need Sawdust giving him the play by play since he heard Ron's voice trying to rise over the din of silverware meeting plates and people happily chatting to their neighbors and friends.

 _"Ron, please. You're going to make another scene."_ Harry begged, seeming tired of this whole thing. Ness was about to thank god for Harry trying to curb another attack when Sawdust recorded Harry's muttering, causing his heart to sink and implode with an icy chill, _"Even if I AM having my doubts about him…"_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"Well, Dumbledore called me in after Ness left to tell him about the importance or whatever, so I went to look for him but he er…left faster than I could keep up. And I didn't see him at all that night. Just Ginny, and she didn't really seem eager to talk to me."_

 _"Cause she's working with HIM."_

 _"Ron she's sitting literally three seats away from us."_

 _"And?!"_

 _"ANYWAY. I went up into the Fourth Year dorm rooms to try and catch him before bed but…I didn't see him, but I did hear a snake grumbling about being stuck waiting for him to follow 'Paula's instructions."_

 _"…A snake?"_

 _"Was it—did you-?!"_

 _"No! No… I just left, didn't want to stir up more trouble than it was worth."_ He didn't leave. He _saw._ Somehow, without Nagini's realization, he had spotted her waiting for him on the bed. What else could explain that small tremor in Harry's voice as they moved onto a different topic to avoid Ginny's ire of talking behind his back?

He saw. And now he wanted answers, answers he couldn't give without confirming himself as the true culprit behind this mess. Although…he sort of WAS behind this mess.

In his shock and grief he didn't process Sawdust's next 'replies' of Hermione asking Ron why he was out so late, or Ron's oddly chipper and dead end reply of, "Merely meeting with a kindred spirit." Before they were rushed away to class.

None of them noticing the Toad's eyes on them as they left the Great Hall for classes more torture.

* * *

 **Merry Christmas everyone! Hopefully you're all having a better Christmas than Harry and Ness! :D (Although that's probably a given since I doubt many people own or know a murderous doll.)**

 **Onto reviews! :D**

 **M1nhTre37: Umbridge is going to be buried under hell at this rate given how much trouble she's stirring up. And she hasn't even become headmistress yet! As for prophecies that's going to be a giant mess since technically Ness has completed his quest with his friends, or has he? Dun dun dun! :3**

 **HelenTheMoon: 'Glances at chapter' Yea...We might not have a situation at the end of Book five given how quickly and chaotically everything is spiraling out of control for our heroes. It might be a war problem next time.**

 **Also, does revoking Ron's prefect badge seem like a good punishment? I sort of made it up on the fly since I completely forgot about consequences for assaulting a student who has claimed to having PTSD, on school grounds (Sort of.), and having to be stopped by two fellow prefects and a fellow student when he refused to stand down and was willing to injure to non-students to get to the first student. (Typing this out makes me realize just HOW badly Ron has screwed up, and how I probably should have made Fred and George react. But I like the idea of them being stunned/torn about what to do since they agree with Ron but don't and also don't want to make it worse.)**

 **It's so weird to think about Harry and the crew actually having detention or punishments for legitimate reasons that weren't forced into play by teachers or students who hates them. o-o**

 **Thanks for Reading! :)**


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